Netmarble's RPG Solo Leveling: ARISE to release on Wednesday

Games & Webtoons

Published: 06 May. 2024, 18:33 Updated: 06 May. 2024, 18:41

Netmarble's RPG Solo Leveling: ARISE to release on Wednesday

Poster for Netmarble's role-playing game Solo Leveling: ARISE [NETMARBLE]

Netmarble’s highly anticipated action role-playing game (RPG) Solo Leveling: ARISE releases globally on Wednesday, as more than 12 million preregistered users eagerly wait to try their hand at the game.

The figure sets the record for the highest preregistration sign-ups for any Netmarble game, as it is based on a massively popular web novel by Chu Gong that has a committed fandom.

The novel has been adapted into both a webtoon and an animated series, and both were highly successful. The webtoon accumulated more than 14.3 billion views globally on webtoon platforms Kakao Webtoon and Kakao Page, while the animated series ranked within the top global charts of Netflix.

The developers behind the game are very confident about the game becoming its next “cash cow” business, according to a recent email interview.

“We anticipate that the achievements made by Solo Leveling will have a similar impact as [the game] The Seven Deadly Sins: Grand Cross, which reached a global milestone of surpassing $1 billion in revenue,” said Moon Jun-ki, head of Netmarble’s business division. “As it’s an intellectual property (IP) beloved globally, rather than merely by users from a specific country, we believe that Solo Leveling can also thrive as a significant cash cow for the company.”

From left, Netmarble Neo's executive director Kim June-sung, producer Jin Seong-keon and Netmarble's business division director Moon Jun-ki pose to promote their role-playing game Solo Leveling: ARISE at Netmarble's headquarters in Guro District, western Seoul. [NETMARBLE][NETMARBLE]

Solo Leveling centers around protagonist Sung Jin-woo and his journey to become a high-class hunter — a human with magical abilities who can fight monsters. As the story mainly revolves around the protagonist, it’s a single-play action game. The company seems to be firm on maintaining single gameplay, as the game's specifications “are not considered for real-time multiplayer content,” according to Netmarble Neo producer Jin Seong-keon.

“The game focuses on maximizing the action experience through a single-player environment, with speedy and stylish actions and agile controls as core elements to enjoy,” Jin said. “Thus, some of its features may not align perfectly with multiplayer functionality. However, we are considering a community system, and updates on this matter will be announced to users after discussion.”

As the game is based on a widely beloved IP, the game company was immensely devoted to crafting the narrative within the game. A total of 18 stages currently wait for users. The timeline of the first update has not been revealed yet.

The game follows Jin-woo as he evolves from the lowest E rank to a necromancer and eventually, a shadow monarch. As the story progresses, he acquires various skills and powerful weapons that amplify his strength. Jin pinpointed transitioning to shadow monarch as one of the most delightful phases that he hopes players will experience.

“Being a shadow monarch means he can summon shadows for combat,” Jin said. “At this stage, players can experience Jin-woo with overwhelming power as the shadow monarch from the original storyline [of the web novel], allowing them to fully enjoy the essence of Solo Leveling.”

Costumes do not affect the character’s gaming abilities. In-game items and weapons to upgrade character abilities at the hunter stage can be acquired through gameplay, events and the so-called loot box system, an in-game lucky draw that players can purchase that may or may not be favorable to their gaming situation.

The game’s business model relies on monthly subscription tiers and battle passes, which will be unanimously implemented without differences in regions.

“Our goal is to create a monetization system that is acceptable to all users, regardless of whether they are domestic or international,” Moon said. “While there are probability-based items, we have also ensured that players can acquire the items through in-game currency obtained during gameplay. We believe this approach will be acceptable to our global userbase and not cause any resistance.”

Netmarble aims to develop the mobile-and-PC RPG for Steam within the year and expand to a console version in 2025.

BY LEE JAE-LIM [lee.jaelim@joongang.co.kr]