Melee battle royale title Naraka: Bladepoint announced a huge milestone today during its Naraka Fest event, stating that the battle royale had reached 20 million players worldwide in the game's two years since launch. Additionally, Naraka will be coming to PlayStation 5 and adopting a free-to-play model on July 13th.
Celebrating its second anniversary, the team at Naraka also announced a slew of new features coming to the melee royale, including a new 12v12 gang wars battle that sounds a bit like a capture and hold mode, updates to the Guild Mode, and a new 3D lobby for players to explore before matches.
Additionally, a new hero, Tessa, was unveiled, describing her as a "1000-year old fox demon" who can capture other players' souls. She will be coming to Naraka on August 9th. The game has steadily been adding heroes to the mix, including the recently released Akos Hu just last month.
We had the chance to chat with Ray Guan, lead producer on Naraka at 24 Entertainment about the PlayStation 5 launch, crossing 20 million players and the free-to-play shift.
MMORPG: PlayStation 5 launch - how exciting is it for the studio to finally be on PlayStation, and were there any challenges bringing the melee battle royale to the platform?
Ray Guan, 24 Entertainment: We are very excited as well! The hardest part was optimizing the controls for PlayStation. In Naraka, you have different attacks, 2 hero skills, and the ability to grapple. Not to mention those movements – crouch, jump, dash, scale-rush, etc. We spent considerable time to optimize the controls for PS5 players and make the combat and movement as natural as possible.
MMORPG: Are there any specific PlayStation-only features players can expect, such as Dual Sense haptic support or any advantages from the SSD tech?
Guan: Yes, we incorporated SSD optimization & No-Loading features, which both allow for reduced loading times and also allow gameplay with a higher framerate. Additionally, we included Raytracing & 3D Audio which are critical to build a world that players can really immerse themselves into.
MMORPG: Can you confirm resolution/framerate targets on PS5?
Guan: As we approach launch we are working hard to optimize the framerate for the best experience possible. We are confident it will be a solid 60 fps at launch.
MMORPG: With this announcement, you state that Naraka will be cross-platform with all the systems. Does this also include cross-progression across the platforms? If not, why did you make that decision?
Guan: Yes, we are very excited that players on all platforms will now be able to play against one another no matter which system they use. However, with cross-progression we were not able to implement this since player data will be saved separately across PlayStation, Xbox, and PC.
MMORPG: 20 million unique players is a huge number, especially for a game that, until now, hasn’t been free-to-play. What do you think accounts for such a large player base in the lifetime of the game, which has only been around for two years?
Guan: We created Naraka to be a very unique game in the space: a true hybrid of battle royale gameplay and intense melee combat, which is something we feel really differentiates it from other battle royale games. We believe this is why many players were attracted to it in the first place. Along with the visuals and Eastern style, the game just brought something different that seemed to attract a strong player base.
We have also been consistent with seasonal feature and content updates, and making sure we continue to showcase new material to fans. Additionally, having a partnership with Xbox Game Pass and quality collaborations with various brand IP have helped to bring NARAKA to a much wider player base. With the PS5 and free-to-play updates, we are eager to reach an even larger audience.
MMORPG: The new hero, Tessa: can you talk a bit about her as a character, as well as what makes her unique among the heroes in Naraka at the moment?
Guan: Tessa is from the Herald’s Psylith. This group is a part of the Tushan faction, which is a group of people known to be able to converse with Nine-Tailed Foxes. She’s mischievous, and carries a good side as well as a darker side. Since she is able to charm enemies and capture their souls, we made considerable effort to make Tessa a visually stunning character. We know fans have been looking for more details ever since we teased her previously and we know they will not be disappointed!
MMORPG: Free-to-play: what necessitated this change, and how long has it been in the works?
Guan: As we planned for our initial launch on PC, we really didn’t know what to expect in terms of engagement. We felt like we had a fantastic concept and game on our hands, but we wanted to ensure we carefully approach the audience. So we started with PC, and then moved to Xbox, and continued to build our audience through Game Pass. Now with the thriving community and fan base going 20 million strong, we are much more confident in the decision to go free-to-play as we unveil the game on PlayStation 5. This has been our strategic plan for quite some time.
MMORPG: Will there be any changes to the in-game monetization to offset the initial cost of getting into the game?
Guan: The main change we’re bringing is that we are actually lowering the price of Standard, Deluxe and Ultimate versions in-game.
MMORPG: How do you think free-to-play will be received, especially by players who may have bought into Naraka just recently?
Guan: For those who have not played Naraka previously, we sincerely hope to get more players trying it out by shifting to F2P in addition to having the game available now on PlayStation. For those who purchased the game previously, those players will be eligible to receive gold (the in-game currency) equal to the full value of the retail game. Additionally, players will receive an exclusive Viper Ning outfit and avatar. I believe our community will welcome all new comers with love and peace before quickly showing them their Katana and Long Sword in action : )