Lineage (series)

Lineage (Korean: 리니지) is a medieval fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game franchise by the South Korean video game developer NCSoft. It has become highly popular in South Korea with subscriptions counting into the millions, but is also available in Chinese, Japanese, Russian, and English-language versions. It is also one of the highest-grossing video game franchises of all time, having grossed $9.7 billion in lifetime revenue, as of 2019.

Lineage
The Lineage II variation of the series logo
Genre(s)	MMORPG
Developer(s)	NCSoft Netmarble Neo Snail
Publisher(s)	NCSoft Netmarble Games Tencent Holdings Snail
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows Mac OS iOS Android Windows Phone PlayStation 5 Nintendo Switch
First release	Lineage September 3, 1998
Latest release	Journey of Monarch December 5, 2024

Games

Release timeline

1998	Lineage
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003	Lineage II
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017	Lineage 2: Revolution
	Lineage Red Knights
	Lineage M
2018
2019	Lineage 2 M
2020
2021	Lineage W
2022
2023	Throne and Liberty
2024	Journey of Monarch

• Lineage, released in 1998.
  • Lineage M, a mobile port version of Lineage developed by NCSoft, released in South Korea on June 21, 2017.^[1][2]
  • Lineage W, a sequel to Lineage, released in Asian markets in November 2021. The story is set in 150 years after story of Lineage.
  • Journey of Monarch, a spinoff to Lineage, released worldwide in December 2024.
• Lineage II, a prequel to Lineage, released in 2003. The story is set in 150 years before story of Lineage.
  • Lineage 2: Revolution, a direct prequel to Lineage II. The story is set 100 years before the storyline of Lineage II: Goddess of Destruction. Developed by Netmarble Neo, the game was released on mobile platforms in 2017.
  • Lineage 2 M, a mobile port version of Lineage II, released in November 2019.^[3]
  • Lineage 2: Blood League, a mobile game developed by Snail Games, release date unannounced.
• Lineage Red Knights, a mobile game developed by NCSoft, released in 2017.
• Throne and Liberty, a direct sequel to Lineage.

Revenue

The following is the gross revenue generated by the Lineage PC games.

Year(s)	NCSoft revenue (PC games)[a]				Ref
	Lineage	Lineage II	Lineage I & II (₩)	Lineage I & II ($)
1998–1999	₩6.8 billion	—	₩1,500 billion[4]	$2,081 million	[citation needed]
2000	₩55.9 billion	—			[5]
2001	₩122.593 billion	—			[6]
2002	₩154.61 billion	—			[7]
2003	₩145.8 billion[b]	₩20.737 billion			[8]
2004	₩137.831 billion	₩109.063 billion			[9]
2005	₩130.185 billion[c]	₩132.092 billion[d]			[10]
2006	₩130.919 billion[e]	₩127.413 billion[f]	₩258.332 billion		[11]
2007	₩124.681 billion[g]	₩132.724 billion[h]	₩257.405 billion		[12]
2008	₩127.617 billion[i]	₩150.047 billion[j]	₩277.664 billion		[13]
2009[k]	₩132.033 billion	₩152.754 billion	₩284.787 billion	$223.02 million	[14]
2010	₩181.189 billion	₩118.207 billion	₩299.396 billion	$537.47 million	[15]
2011	₩195.702 billion	₩100.574 billion	₩296.276 billion		[16]
2012	₩205.261 billion	₩65.082 billion	₩270.343 billion	$239.99 million	[17]
2013	₩287.887 billion	₩57.131 billion	₩345.018 billion	$315.13 million	[18]
2014	₩263.128 billion	₩59.479 billion	₩322.607 billion	$306.38 million	[19]
2015	₩312.876 billion	₩62.952 billion	₩375.828 billion	$332.25 million	[20]
2016	₩375.487 billion	₩77.114 billion	₩452.601 billion	$390.03 million	[21]
2017	₩154.422 billion	₩65.792 billion	₩220.214 billion	$194.81 million	[22]
2018	₩149.705 billion	₩63.886 billion	₩213.591 billion	$194.09 million	[23]
2019	₩174.07 billion	₩93.588 billion	₩267.658 billion	$229.68 million	[24]
2020	₩176 billion	₩105 billion	₩281 billion	$238.08 million	[25]
2021	₩134.077 billion	₩100 billion	₩234.077 billion	$204.62 million	[26]
1998–2021	₩3,878.773 billion+	₩1,793.635 billion+	₩6,156.797 billion	$5.487 billion

Notes

1. NCSoft's royalty revenue amount is not listed here prior to 2005, and is excluded after 2008.
2. NCSoft revenue from EverQuest included.
3. Revenue ₩115.012 billion and royalty revenue ₩15.173 billion.
4. Revenue ₩118.953 billion and royalty revenue ₩13.139 billion.
5. Revenue ₩118.049 billion and royalty revenue ₩12.87 billion.
6. Revenue ₩119.206 billion and royalty revenue ₩8.207 billion.
7. Revenue ₩111.401 billion and royalty revenue ₩13.28 billion.
8. Revenue ₩131.154 billion and royalty revenue ₩1.57 billion.
9. Revenue ₩112.602 billion and royalty revenue ₩15.015 billion.
10. Revenue ₩147.211 billion and royalty revenue ₩2.836 billion.
11. NCSoft has stopped disclosing the breakdown of royalties, hence royalty revenue is excluded after this point.