A sequel to the 2008 MMORPG Aion will launch globally later this yr, 17 years after the unique.
Aion 2 will see a world launch by way of Steam, developer NCSoft introduced, with servers for North America, South America, Japan, and Europe. The information comes after Aion 2’s launch in South Korea and Taiwan final November to less-than-stellar evaluations, with the sport’s microtransactions being a serious level of criticism. Whereas the sport is technically free-to-play, it does function elective subscriptions and pay-to-win mechanics. NCSoft apologized for the sport’s monetization shortly after launch and vowed to make modifications.
What modifications NCSoft might make to Aion 2 for its world launch are nonetheless unclear, although the developer said in its announcement that extra information could be coming in Could and it regarded ahead to answering questions from the sport’s neighborhood.
The unique Aion proved common, having acquired quite a few expansions over the yr. It is nonetheless playable right now in a number of totally different codecs, together with a “basic” server that recreates the sport because it was when it first launched.
Aion 2 takes place 200 years after the unique Aion in a world that’s 36 instances bigger and constructed on Unreal Engine 5, in keeping with the sport’s Steam web page. Its world is designed with verticality in thoughts, as gamers can take to the skies utilizing wings to not solely traverse the surroundings however for fight and exploration. Aion 2’s player-versus-environment content material will embody solo dungeons in addition to dungeons for teams of 4 and eight gamers.
When Aion 2 arrives later this yr, it can be part of an ever-growing listing of Korean-developed MMOs trying to discover success overseas. NCSoft launched one other free-to-play MMO, Throne and Liberty, within the West in 2024. Although it noticed sturdy concurrent participant numbers shortly after launch, it nonetheless fell wanting different MMO launches like New World and Misplaced Ark, all three of which had been printed (or, in New World’s case, additionally developed) by Amazon.
MMOs as a style have been in a little bit of a tough patch just lately, with quite a few new in-development MMOs canceled and even current ones, like New World, quickly to be sundown. In simply the final yr alone, that listing of canceled MMOs contains one from former World of Warcraft lead programs designer Greg Avenue, Venture Blackbird from the creators of The Elder Scrolls On-line, and a brand new Warhammer MMO.