NCSoft’s Hoyeon, which launched with high hopes based on the Blade & Soul IP, is shutting down after 1 year and 4 months of service.

NCSoft officially announced the service termination via its website on the 17th. The service will end on February 18th of next year, and the company has begun the process of refunds and compensation. Sales of all paid items ceased on the 17th, and several channels on the official Discord server have been deactivated.

The management team offered an apology in their notice, stating, "We sincerely apologize for failing to live up to the love sent by our players and for causing concern with such sudden news." They added, "Every piece of affectionate advice and precious support you gave to help Hoyeon move in a better direction will remain in our hearts."

Hoyeon is a collectible RPG that launched on August 28th of last year. Set three years prior to the original game, it follows the protagonist 'Yuseol' on a quest to restore a ruined family. However, it failed to gain traction, suffering from widespread criticism regarding lackluster character design, high user burden, and a lack of satisfying gameplay.

Meanwhile, the development team announced on the 16th via their international website that the Steam version will be expanded to include Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau. Note that this version operates independently of the original domestic service, so account data will not carry over. As of the 17th, the Steam version is recording a peak of 80 concurrent players.