ELYON is Running on Fumes. Is a Service Closure Imminent?

This is what happens when an MMO loses its playerbase. This is what happens when an MMO is about to shut down. Merging all of their servers together in an attempt to consolidate a severely depleted playerbase that no longer shows any interest in the game.
And to think: Players genuinely thought this was going to be a long-term sustainable MMO with untapped potential. I’m sure there’s looks of utter shock and bewilderment on the faces of the remaining players. Not that Kakao probably cares!

Now whenever I do a video on an MMO where I go on to discuss its dwindling population, I get met with quite a bit of criticism.
Comments like “This guy doesn’t know what he’s talking about, our game isn’t dead,” or “Typical Youtuber doesn’t even play the game but thinks he can talk about the state of it.”
And you know what? I might not be able to discuss the state the economy is in. I might not be capable of discerning whether or not the playerbase is toxic or friendly at present. But when a publisher like Kakao make their live concurrent player statistics public, you best bet I can discuss the state the population is in.
And you know what dictates whether an MMO is dead or not? The current number of players logging in regularly to play it.

Looking at population statistics, you’ll notice the 24-hour peak sitting at a mere 1,600. This game isn’t even 3 months old yet – and it’s completely free to play. That is a substantial decline in terms of population, given that the game launched to 15,000 concurrent players initially.
Let’s take a look at Elyon’s direct competition: Disregarding New World, we have PSO2 New Genesis, Swords of Legends Online and Bless Unleashed, all which launched within a few months of it.
PSO2 New Genesis is split between multiple platforms, but Steam alone records 4,000 concurrent players today, with a peak of 60,000 players when it released.
That’s a sizable reduction in active players as well, but significantly more if you combine the Microsoft Store with Steam and the Epic Games Store.
Swords of Legends Online launched 6 months ago as a buy to play MMO – the only premium title included here, to 19,000 concurrent players, and is still managing a 700 player peak. This is actually pretty atrocious, but given it’s already been a half year, I guess it stands to reason. I’d expect ELYON to see an even steeper decline by that point.
And Bless Unleashed, which launched 5 months ago to 76,000 players is currently peaking at 5,000 active concurrent players. Not as high as PSO2 New Genesis, and arguably an even larger drop-off but every game with the exception of SOLO has out-performed ELYON.

As noted, Kakao published a blog post on their website discussing the upcoming server merges for their new MMO. All of the European servers are being merged into a single server, as are the North American servers.
Kakao noted that these merges are “something a lot of players are looking forward to,” and honestly, while that may be true due to the sheer lack of players left to participate in any form of content with, the unfortunate reality of the situation is that this is the final nail in the coffin for the game.
When a developer or publisher confirm their game has no players left to warrant more than a single server, they’re admitting to the fact that they understand there’s nothing they can do to save their game, and would rather consolidate every player onto a single server in an attempt to save money and reinforce spending.

This is a sad state to see the game in. Especially given how large a fan of Ascent: Infinite Realm I was. A:IR was a fascinating MMO. It took place predominantly within the skies.
You were required to make use of your aerial mounts. You flew from archipelago to archipelago, with each land mass having its own selection of monsters and quests.
There was a surplus of PvP everywhere, fully mounted combat, a gorgeous steampunk setting. Yet ELYON was such a departure from what A:IR was supposed to be that it ended up turning into something unrecognizeable. A basic Beatrice, if you would. The epitome–the very definition of mediocre.

At this juncture, there is nothing that can save ELYON.
ELYON transitioned from a buy to play MMO to a free to play MMO because players showed little interest in the title and they came to the realization that if they wanted to see any type of return on their long-term investment, they needed to allow as many players access as possible.
But merging all of their servers together 2 months after launching is proof of how poorly received this game was, and how short its lifespan will be.
This is the next Bless Online, the next Astellia Online. I rarely say an “MMO is dead,” but if this isn’t the very proof you need to justify that claim, then I don’t know what is.

It’s unfortunate to see how this ended, but really doesn’t come as too large of a surprise.
Sorry it didn’t work out ELYON, hopefully Bluehole and Kakao have better luck with their next title.