PurpleBlade and Soul NEO will not be launching on Steam, will be sticking to NCSoft's own platform PurpleHow big of an impact will this decision have on new player engagement? Time will tell!Image credit: NCSoft Article by Connor Makar Staff Writer Published on Feb. 13, 2025 Blade & Soul Neo is a re-release of NCSoft's action MMO, bringing the world back to its original state with a healthy number of quality of life changes and significant gameplay additions to make the whole experience a bit smoother. It's a cool idea, perhaps inspired somewhat by Blizzard's World of Warcraft: Classic, and has certainly convinced me to jump back on board and give the game a try later this month.However, despite what appears to be a grand opportunity to get as many new folks into Blade & Soul as possible, the game will not be launching on Steam. Instead, the game will solely be available on NCSoft's own platform: Purple. This was revealed during a press preview and Q&A held last week, in which NC America's Andrew Long (senior producer) and Andrew Gant (community manager) provided some insight into the game and its goals. The following answers were provided in an interview shortly after that preview.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. VG247: Who is your target audience here?Long: "We want to grab people who maybe played Blade & Soul at launch, who maybe left over the past nine years. So we want to target those users, we have a large user pool too! We also want to target new audiences! We want to get people who've heard about Blade & Soul, but maybve don't know what it is, and want to explore it now. So we want to make sure both Blade & Soul live and Neo are supported, but with Neo tap into lapsed users, new users, anyone who wants to enjoy our product."VG247: Are you concerned at all that this game launching solely on Purple to begin with will hamper the game's ability to reach new or lapsed players?Long: "I think there are unique challenges to having your own launcher. Steam is a juggernaught in the industry, and when we do, we'll reach out over platforms for expansion, areas to grow. So, it's something we're aware of, but we're confident in our launch and plan on Purple."VG247: Would you say that outreach to new audiences is one of the primary challenges with having your own launcher?Long: "Yeah I would say, the product is going to be what's going to draw those users in. They're going to want to play Blade & Soul, they check where it is, they find out it's on Purple. So what is Purple? There is going to have to be an education space there, on how do I make an account, things like that. So there's that one step they're going to have to do, and that can be challenging. But we're ready, we're ready to make as manner introductions into what Purple is, how to use it, and all the cool features on Purple! There are a lot of cool features on Purple that may not be on Steam." Neo is a stunner to be fair, with old zones visually refreshed. | Image credit: NCSoftVG247: I have one final question on Purple. NCSoft launched Throne and Liberty on Steam, but isn't doing it here. I'm curious why there's a difference in strategy between the two games. Obviously, both games would want as many players as possible to jump on board, you guys will have worked hard on Blade & Soul Neo. So why choose just Purple for this?At this point, Douglass Perry (senior director of public relations at NC America) spoke up to provide some additional context to the decision.Perry: "Easy answer. Throne and Liberty is published by Amazon, it's not an NC America game, so it's a different publisher. This publishing team is only a year and a half old, we have a staff of 30-35 people. We're really establishing ourselves as a new publisher. Our mandate from NCSoft is to use the Purple launcher, and as we progress through this year and the next, we'll be looking at all the different platforms we can."VG247: Other Andrew! How do you anticipate the audience will split in Neo between totally new players, and players of Blade & Soul live? Do you think it'll be its own distinct audience, or will it be a mix of players jumping into both games at once? New features, like infinite wind walking, may tempt long time fans over. | Image credit: NCSoftGant: "That's a really good question. I've been blown away by our own community in our Discord and our live player base - they're really passionate. They're excited about Neo, they're still eager to play Live, but will try out Neo for sure. I can't predict whether they'll leave Live behind as they're still so passionate, but of course they're going to try Neo and make their own decision on what version is right for them. The two versions are wildly different, so that's a question that'll be answered shortly.""If we look at the community, a lot of the hype has been from returning users joining our Discord, who maybe tried Blade & Soul back when it launched, have all of these great memories, and they're back to see what this new game is all about. But also, it's been interesting to see a lot of new players who have no idea what Blade & Soul is. So we have a lot of potential with people who missed it [...] There are new generations that have missed it, they weren't here for the beginning of the MMO rise, so it's been important for us to realize there's a massive market for new players as well.""Also, if I may add to the Purple thing, we've been using Purple for a year plus, all three of our games and a mobile game we have all exist on Purple. So it's kind of an old hat for us, but it's getting new features that we're excited to show to a new audience".It's an interesting debate, whether or not to keep your own games on a dedicated launcher to create a hub for fans of NCSoft, while taking into account the potential loss of players that decision may bring. It's especially interesting that Throne and Liberty's PC release and it's initial peak of 333,000 players doesn't appear to have shifted NCSoft's own philosophy when it comes to other MMO releases. That's an audience that Amazon clearly wanted to tap into with its involvement in the release, but given that figure has dropped siginificantly since then to a steady 30-ish thousand concurrent, perhaps there's merit to building your own platform. Would those dedicated Throne and Liberty fans be any less eager if they had to boot up Purple? Something to think about.Nevertheless, Blade & Soul Neo is launching on Purple on February 25. It's not touched on in this interview too much, but the game does really seem like a great jumping on point for those unfamiliar. We'll have another interview feature on Blade & Soul Neo out tomorrow, so keep an eye out if you want to read more about the release.