Lineage (1998): The Comic-Book MMORPG That Built NCSOFT
Based on Shin Il-sook's manhwa, Lineage became one of the first mass-market online RPGs.
NCSOFT, founded in 1997 by Kim Taek-jin, launched Lineage in Korea in September 1998. Developed by a team led by Jake Song, it was adapted from Shin Il-sook's fantasy manhwa of the same name.
Castles and clans
Lineage's heart was blood pledges (clans) fighting over castles that controlled taxes in their territory. Large-scale player conflict, alliances and rivalries gave the game drama that kept players logging in for years, and it grew alongside Korea's PC bangs.
A franchise and a business model
- Lineage II (2003) moved the series to 3D.
- Lineage M (2017) and Lineage 2M (2019) brought the formula to mobile and dominated Korean revenue charts for years.
The series' heavy monetisation also drew criticism, part of a wider debate over pay-to-win design in Korean games.
Legacy
Lineage proved that online subscription games could be big business, years before World of Warcraft. Its success funded NCSOFT's later titles, up to this year's AION 2, which just returned the company to profit (read our Q3 report).
Reference: Wikipedia, Lineage (video game) and NCSoft.