No need to dress warm, Neverwinter MMO coming to Xbox One in 2015

By Paul Acevedo
last updated

At the beginning of the month, Perfect World Entertainment revealed that its popular massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) Neverwinter would be coming to the Xbox One in China. The MMO genre is one of the most popular types of games in China; they have literally a million billion of them over there. If I am not mistaken, that's a number so high that mathematicians don't even have a word for it.

Announcing a game for the Chinese market and announcing it for the rest of the world are two different things. But did anyone really think Perfect World wouldn't bring Neverwinter to North America and Europe as well? The PC version already has a strong following worldwide, after all. Today it became official: Neverwinter will arrive on Xbox One worldwide (following this year's Chinese release) in 2015!

Seems like it's never winter

Neverwinter is a Dungeons & Dragons-themed MMORPG that launched on PC last year. The game takes place in the Forgotten Realms city of Neverwinter. Although not a true sequel to the popular Neverwinter Nights series, this Neverwinter draws influence from both games.

After nearly being destroyed by a cataclysmic volcanic eruption, Neverwinter has finally been restored to its former glory. A powerful Lord known as Neverember takes the city under his protection in the hopes of eventually ruling it as king. But multiple forces of evil threaten the rebuilt city, including a lich queen, a resurrected pirate, and an army of the undead…

Players can choose from seven races and six classes in Neverwinter. The races include Half-Orc, Human, Half-Elf, Elf, Drow, Dwarf, and Tiefling; the classes consist of Great Weapon Fighter, Guardian Fighter, Trickster Rogue, Devoted Cleric, Control Wizard, and Hunter Ranger. A seventh class called the Scourge Warlock will be unleashed in the upcoming PC expansion "Tyranny of Dragons" next month.

As you'd expect, Neverwinter uses a modified version of the 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons rules. The actual combat is highly approachable, closer to Diablo III than the more involved mechanics of Elder Scrolls Online. The game also offers player-created quests, a feature you won't find in other many other online RPGs.

The PC version of Neverwinter is free to play. Get it from Perfect World's Arc Games website.

Neverwinter coming to Xbox One in 2015

Xbox One version

Neverwinter will arrive on Xbox One worldwide in the first half of 2015. According to IGN, the console version will contain most (but not all) of the PC game's content. Perfect World plans to stagger some of the game's post-release content when bringing it to Xbox One, presumably to give console players a chance to enjoy the main game before moving on to endgame-focused content.

In our original story, contributor Kane Gao worried about how well a computer game like Neverwinter would translate to console controls. According to the developer, it adapts very well. A tray of commands appears at the bottom of the screen, where players can hotkey them to buttons on the controller. Holding Left Bumper toggles to alternate commands, giving players access to a wide variety of moves and items without the need for a keyboard.

Beyond that, Xbox One-specific details are scarce. We know that Xbox One players won't be able to mingle with PC gamers. Not too surprising, as Microsoft just plain won't allow cross-platform play with non-Xbox systems. The Elder Scrolls Online (ESO) will work the same way when it arrives on the Xbox One at the end of the year, segregating Xbox One, Playstation 4, and PC players. Also, both games will require Xbox Live Gold memberships in order to play.

Knowing that cross-platform play is out, two big questions remain. One: will PC players be able to transfer their characters to the Xbox One version? Although ESO will support such a transfer, we can't assume the same for Neverwinter. And two: will Neverwinter be free to play on Xbox One? Considering that ESO will be a retail game AND require a monthly subscription fee, Neverwinter will have a huge pricing advantage if it retains the PC version's free to play payment model.

Perfect World Entertainment promises more details as Neverwinter gets closer to release on Xbox One. We'll keep you posted!

Paul Acevedo
Paul Acevedo

Paul Acevedo is the Games Editor at Windows Central. A lifelong gamer, he has written about videogames for over 15 years and reviewed over 350 games for our site. Follow him on Twitter @PaulRAcevedo. Don’t hate. Appreciate!

56 Comments
  • This is wpcentral not Microsoftcentral....
  • Welcome to the site. We cover all Microsoft platforms. If you're not interested in Xbox One stories, don't click on them.
  • This dude just got served. When will people learn Paul?
  • Actually, he just brought up a very valid point; it's called WPCentral, not WCentral - Xbox One and 360 really aren't relevant, if the title of the site is to make any sense...
  • They are relevant to me. So I click on them.
  • Thx
  • You are some kinda whiny peasant. Don't like a topic, don't click it.
  • Will don't like a comment don't reply it.....
    XD
  • lol
  • You mean well? If dont like using proper grammar, don't type it.
  • And this has been explained a million times bfore, the site is being rebranded and redesigned because they are heading in a new direction and not just focusing on Windows Phone. Just like Paul said, maybe if he doesnt want to read Xbox news, dont click on Xbox news.
  • So stop calling it WPCentral then - it's that simple.
  • Hence the reason they are rebranding and reredisgning but slowly so as not to confuse people and cause problems with the site because that would turn people away. It's just people who get hung up on the silliest things, what does it really matter what the site is called? Sure it matters for commericial reasons to mobile nations but to the average reader it doesnt mean anything. You still get all the windows phone news as well as the other topics. If you dont like the other topics then dont read them but quit bitching about simple things, like what websites call themselves.
  • You are right in that one should not judge a book by its cover, or a web site by its name.  But as long as the site is called WPCentral, one can hold out hope that at least the focus should be on WP and not a giant smorgasboard of crap.  Or at least give users some kind of filtering option so they don't have to wade through all the stories they have zero interest in. But hey, I guess at least this way they might have somewhat more of a future when WP crumbles to dust.  I can't wait to see the positive spin on that one. :)
  • Could it be possible to have an RSS feed with only WP-related news?
  • I don't see the problem with it. Its not like they don't have any articles about WP. Most of them are.
  • The people complaining - this site doesn't belong to them, does it? Let the editorial team do their jobs people. Don't like it? Go somewhere else for your news. Simple.
  • PS4 fan boy detected.
  • No I'm not
  • I would guess not for much longer.  Soon it will be MSCentral.
  • I personally love the non-WP news. Why would I go to Xboxnews.com, Win8news.com, and then WPCentral, when I can do it all in one click?
  • From Mobilenations.com: Product Coverage: Windows Phone OS, Windows 8 OS, Windows Phones, Windows Phone Tablets, Microsoft Surface, Windows Laptops, Xbox, Xbox One, Windows Phone Apps & Games, Carriers, Mobile Services. Yes, they do cover Xbox and all related.
  • I think one million billion is a quadrillion.
  • No need to dress warm because you're never going to leave the house, right? Just play this game all winter, guys!
  • Ooh, that was painful. >_
  • As long as we all agree that my headline joke was good! :-D
  • Hmm, you might have gotten a chuckle out of me. ;-)
  • My joke was good, right ?
  • You get an A for effort. :-D
  • Heroes of Order & Chaos now on 512 mb :) Download It!
  • Great article as always. This would interest me but with the upcoming releases of destiny, Diablo, halo, FIFA 15 I don't think I will have time for it.
  • Thanks man! At least it doesn't come out till next year. ~ ~
  • True, its hard to say what I will be playing next year but Xbox One seems to have so many great titles coming within the next 6-12 months.
  • I tried it on PC, always believed it would be good on a console the way it's structured.
  • Will you play Halo MCC?
  • I prefer Perfect World International over Neverwinter. PWI was one of the best MMORPG games I've ever played. Will hopefully return to the game on my SP3 if Albion Online disappoints me.
  • There is no winter season in my country lol (Indonesia)
  • That's a shame. Missing out. Here in Ohio, USA we get all the seasons. 80-90F summer days and 2-3ft of snow in the winter are the two opposite seasons we get. Snow is a lot of fun.
  • Don't believe this guy. Winter is coming!
  • I'm surprised game of thrones hasn't become a game title yet like walking dead.
  • A million-billion is a quadrillion. Posted via Windows Phone Central App
  • The Silver Sword of Gith says yes!
  • An English billion is actually something of a misunderstanding; a billion is really a bi-million, as in a million times a million = 1.000.000.000.000. What you refer to as a billion is actually a milliard. Never understood why the Americans decided to change the meaning, and I REALLY don't understand why the British chose to switch as well in the 70's. But then again, the British have been agonizingly slow in implementing the obviously superior metric system, so no wonder...
  • I loved the Neverwinter Nights series. I tried this version and really found the character builds and game play quite limited.
  • Winter is coming :D
    Great article though, enjoyed it (y)
  • Thanks for the Xbox news..keep it up..tired of going to kotaku reading crap and the Sony fans bashing MS every chance they get.
  • Yeah, you find sycophants everywhere.
  • If it doesn't come with a monthly subscription, I'll give it a shot. I love D&D and I'm on the 3.5 edition. I know plenty of "purists" are bitching and moaning about the 4th edition, some for good reason such as character class removals, and some for probably petty reasons. I might move to the 5th edition if that's the one coming this fall.
  • Hey Paul Acevedo... How about renaming the site house of M... By the way I love all Microsoft news & it seems like there's always been non wp news. Am I wrong ?
  • Glad you enjoy the whole spectrum! It's not up to me, but maybe the site name will change someday.
  • I hear nothing but bad things about this game on steam
  • I'd rather perfect world brought us Star Trek Online.
  • That game is horrible
  • Well you are certainly welcome to your opinion.
  • I would love that! It's not the best MMO out there, but it has certainly gotten a lot better since launching way too early.
  • In our original story, contributor Kane Gao worried about how well a computer game like Neverwinter would translate to console controls. According to the developer, it adapts very well.
    Unfortunately, those of us in the large community who loved Neverwinter Nights 1 & 2 always sensed this was the ultimate direction when the MMO came out. These games had an interesting real time/pause-and-play style of gameplay. They also had powerful toolsets which the communities used to create content for many years. With the MMO, both of these aspects were removed in favor of having a tiny handful of controls and rapid-fire clicking. My cynical belief is that the console market was always the end-game here.