South Korean game developer NCSOFT unveiled its new mobile game “Lineage Red Knights” in Seoul on Thursday, announcing plans to officially launch the game in 12 countries on Dec. 8.

The mobile game is based on “Lineage,” a pioneering multiplayer online role-playing game introduced in 1998 that rocketed NCSOFT to become one of Korea’s biggest game developers.

NCSOFT plans to launch its new mobile RPG in 12 countries, including Korea, Taiwan and parts of Southeast Asia, on Dec. 8, with plans to introduce the game in additional markets including Japan at a later date. 

In China, one of the world’s biggest mobile game markets, NCSOFT’s local partner Alpha Group will distribute “Lineage Red Knights” early next year, the firm said.

In developing “Lineage Red Knights,” NCSOFT took great care to re-create the same gaming experience offered by the original game for a mobile setting, according to NCSOFT’s Vice President of Publishing Shim Seung-bo.

“We have fully coated our original game with mobile elements,” said the NCSOFT executive. “We are confident that users will be able to enjoy the same contents offered by the original PC-based ‘Lineage’ on their mobile devices.”

Moreover, NCSOFT’s new mobile game aims to appeal to a broader base of users who may be unfamiliar with “Lineage” or its story line by incorporating more public-friendly visual graphics than the original game series, Shim explained.

As a supplement to its new mobile RPG, the Korean game developer also unveiled a new smartphone case that automatically syncs the game with Samsung smartphones.

Users who play the new game on devices equipped with a “smart cover” can receive special items and extra experience points, according to NCSOFT. The firm plans to offer more exclusive benefits, such as special dungeons and characters, in the future.

Though the smart case only supports Samsung devices for now, NCSOFT is planning to widen its partnerships with other firms like Apple and Xiaomi in the future.

Looking ahead, “Lineage Red Knights” is slated to compete with other mobile multiplayer RPG games in the market, including those utilizing the intellectual property of “Lineage” such as Netmarble’s “Lineage II: Revolution,” to be released next month.

By Sohn Ji-young (jys@heraldcorp.com)