Release dates
| Version | Date | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Korea (original) | 15 July 2002 | The version the game was first released as |
| USKO (international) | 17 August 2004 | The version played from Turkey |
| Steam | 26 January 2016 | The game was added to the Steam library |
It was Knight Empire first
When the game first came out its name wasn't Knight Online. It opened in beta as Knight Empire and took its name in 2004, with the international version. That's why the name used today is two years younger than the game itself.
During beta there was a single server: Ares. When it moved to full release the server count went to four — Ares, Dies, Beramus and Xigenon. Compared with today's server list you can see how small a start that was.
The studios that developed the game are Mgame Corporation and Noah System. The publishing side changed hands a few times over the years; the international version was run by K2 Network for a long time, then NTTGame took over.
What has changed since the game came out
The most visible change is the level cap. When the game opened, characters could go up to level 60; today's cap is 83. The zones, classes and item tiers added over the twenty years in between are part of that gap too.
The maps were rewritten as well. With the 1299 update, the Breth and Piana maps were replaced by Luferson Castle and El Morad. With the New Moradon package in 2007 Moradon was redrawn and became the wide city where the market is set up today.
The Kurian class was added to the game later; at launch each nation had five classes. So it's not odd that old guides never mention Kurian; there was no such class back then.
Three dates that often get mixed up
- 2002 is the game's release in Korea; you couldn't connect to that version from Turkey.
- 2004 is the opening year of the international version. In practice the Turkish answer to "how old is Knight Online" starts here.
- 2016 is the date it was added to Steam, not a new game release. It's the same game added to a distribution channel.
So when did the servers open?
The game's release date and a server's opening date are separate things. New servers opened one after another over the years and each grew with its own economy; that's why the same item's price varies from server to server.
On a newly opened server, GB and item prices behave differently from settled servers: supply is scarce, prices are volatile. If you want to follow what's going on where, looking at current prices server by server is more useful than looking at dates.