Perhaps there’s some market in our corner of the globe that’s hungry for a wuxia-styled MMORPG, or perhaps NetEase is hungry for that western market MMORPG money. Whatever the rationale may be, an eagle-eyed Redditor has spotted that the Chinese megacorp put in a trademark for Sword of Justice this past September, which is likely the new localized name for Justice Online.
Details are naturally absent about the game itself – this is a patent application, after all – but we’ve been covering this game as far back as 2016, when the NetEase-developed title was known as Treacherous Waters overseas and confirmed to have been four years in the making. Since then the company has been offering drips and drabs of information, first starting with a plan to release at the tail end of 2022, then missing that mark and falling silent until this past March, when it showed off gameplay in an Nvidia visuals showcase. The mobile version of the MMO otherwise got a June 30th launch in China.
To that final point, it’s unclear whether this trademark is for the mobile or the PC game, as the filing seeks to secure the rights for “electronic game software for use on mobile and cellular phones, laptops, handheld computers, tablet computers, handheld wireless devices” as well as “computer game software for use with personal computers, home video game consoles used with televisions and arcade-based video game consoles,” which is very likely typical trademark catch-all legalese. Whatever the reality may be, it looks as if this one is still likely heading our way.
