Daum Games, the developers behind the hit Korean MMORPG – Black Desert have dropped subtle hints that the EU/NA versions of the game are nearly ready for the Western world. Since the Korean Beta launched in 2013, the MMO community have been eagerly watching and anticipating the game’s development and subsequent release. Recently the Russian Beta launched and although this hasn’t gained as much traction as I thought it would, it’s still keeping the community wanting more. The Korean version of the game already has several English patches behind it and a vibrant Reddit community.
I have had chance to play on the Korean servers and oh my gawd it feels fantastic. Absolutely gorgeous graphics and enough content to keep you occupied until the year 209234. Granted we aren’t sure which way they are going to go with the cash shop, but it looks like they are planning on following in the footsteps of Guild Wars 2 (Buy to play and then a cosmetic cash store) rather than a free to play (aka pay to win game). Which is a great move in my opinion. I absolutely can’t stand when a potentially amazing game gets ruined by an over zealous developer. If you look at Aion as an example and compare the US and EU editions, the US edition is far superior and much less restricted than it’s EU counterpart. I really hope that Black Desert certainly lives up to it’s high expectations. Especially as World of Warcraft is now 11 years old, and Guild Wars 2 is 3 already, it feels like it’s been a long time coming.
So far, preparing the game for an EU/NA release has involved translating over 2.5 million words into English, French and German. Pretty impressive. Just goes to show how serious and epic the Korean MMO scene can be.
“We are putting a lot of effort in the game’s Western localization,” said Daniel Loehr (AKA Belsazar), Project Manager at Daum Games, “We are localizing approximate 2.5 million words into English, German and French. Black Desert Online’s content and gameplay sytems will be adjusted to accommodate Western players and our differentiating business model.”
Limited Alpha keys are going to be made available via the official Facebook and Twitter pages as well as several fansites such as this one. So if you’re interested in finding out more about the game, or keeping up to date with the latest developments it’s worth checking out the reddit section of the game and the official website (which currently just lists the teaser with the promise of more to come soon)
Do you think the game has what it takes to capture the hearts and imagination of the MMO community, or is it going to be pure hype and disappear into the abyss like many of the failed and dying MMO games? Let us know below or on social media, and of course, have a look at the official “Teaser” which we have posted below.
