TL: Origin Release Date? Global Launch, PC & Console Confirmed, New Lineage MMORPG Universe in the Making

I know you’re probably confused by the title. “TL: Origin?” Yes, TL: Origin is the official title for Project TL, which was originally Lineage: Eternal, the main competitor for Lost Ark.
Does that mean we finally have new information pertaining to the game? Yes, yes we do. Back in May this year I did a video talking about the upcoming Closed Beta, the release date and the business model, among other things.
Now I’m here to update you all with the info that while yes, Project TL is not coming out this year – in 2020, they are still on schedule to release their Closed Beta before the end of this year, with an expected release date in 2021.
That isn’t just within South Korea, either, much to my surprise. NCSoft recently stated that they’ve found it to be quite difficult launching games that are successful and well known within South Korea to the overseas market.
Players just aren’t very receptive, and part of this reason is due to the fact that these games are built for Korean players in mind, not Western players.
NCSoft have acknowledged this, and went on to reveal that Project TL, now titled TL: Origin is actually being built “for the global audience, with technologies and visuals they are familiar with.”
This means that the game, that was expected to be a South Korean exclusive for at least a few years, isn’t being built for their market, it’s being built for ours, and us specifically.
Honestly, I’m happy to see a South Korean developer make a move like this, and I feel it’s an enormous step in the right direction that could permanently change the way Eastern MMO developers develop games if they see that we’re receptive of their interpretation of what we want.
But at the same time, this could either be a PR marketing ploy to get us interested, or they could have completely misinterpreted what we like to see in our games, and this could crash and burn. Who knows.

NCSoft earlier this year also revealed that while TL: Origin was initially expected to be a PC exclusive release, they have plans on expanding onto consoles as well. Not mobile, no. You guys can lower your pitchforks. Just console.
So probably PS4. Maybe Switch. XBox is always left out as it’s the “mistake” child in Asia.
They don’t have much in the way of information pertaining to the console release other than the fact that they want to release fully onto both PC and console platforms. This is fantastic for PS4 players as they don’t really have much in the way of diversity.
Sure, you guys have Bless Unleashed coming, but let’s be real here.. it’s Bless Unleashed.
It’s unconfirmed whether or not the game will be cross-platform compatible allowing players to play between platforms, or whether cross-save functionality will be a thing allowing you to play with the same account regardless of the method used to play.
But I’ll definitely keep you guys updated when and if they release anything on that front.

Now, regarding the name change from Project TL to TL: Origin. It was brought to my attention a couple days ago when I was doing our Weekly Byte of MMORPG News video that NCSoft had trademarked both “TL” and “TL: Origin.”
TL: Origin stands for The Lineage: Origin, which probably goes a way to explain what we have to expect out of the game with regards to the story and setting.
As noted, the game is scheduled to enter Closed Beta later this year, but what was interesting was that it was confirmed internal testing of the game would begin on August 31st.
It’s currently the 29th right now, so by the time this goes live they’ll already have begun their first internal testing phase of the game, which lasts until the 4th of September.
After the internal testing phase concludes, we can finally expect some information to release, maybe even a new gameplay trailer showing what we have to look forward to once the Closed Beta hits in a couple months – this is the perfect time to after all with plenty of people still at home playing video games.

In closing, NCSoft stated that this game is meant to be the first in a new franchise for them. In their words specifically, “it is meant to be the start of a brand new universe,” that is targeted at Western players.
So the entire Lineage franchise going forward is going to be solely dependent on how well we receive this game.
With how little NCSoft care about PC MMORPGs anymore, this might be one of the last titles they bother wasting their time on if we really don’t enjoy what we’re given. But at the same time, if the game sucks.. then the game sucks. There’s nothing we can do about that.

I’m more excited for TL: Origin than ever before. I find it interesting that they announced they were creating the MMO for a global audience as opposed to a South Korean audience shortly after Amazon confirmed they were releasing Lost Ark in the West next year.
But they’re going to be the main competition for one another, so I guess it stands to reason.
I look forward to seeing where this ends up towards the end of the year, and I’m hoping considering their grandiose vision for the game, that it ends up being remotely as entertaining as they think it’ll be.
We’ve had to wait long enough to play this game, and I look forward to playing it next year (yes, the TL: Origin release date is 2021) in whatever form we get to play it in.