14 years ago, the MMORPG Aion was released and was briefly a competitor to the European giant WoW. The MMORPG “with the wings” also had its fans in Europe. Since 2018, the MMORPG giant NCSoft has been working on the successor Aion 2 (iOS, Android, PC). A release, including in Europe and for PC, is aimed for 2025, as an insider report from South Korea now reveals.
What kind of game is Aion?
- Aion was an exotic and extravagant game for its time, coming to Europe when most European MMORPG players only knew World of Warcraft. Since Aion was developed with the CryEngine, it was truly a sight to behold.
- Many referred to the MMORPG as the “game with the wings,” as characters didn’t fly on flying mounts, like in WoW, but had wings themselves.
- Aion transitioned to Free2Play in Europe in 2012 and gradually faded. While Aion is still playable and a Classic version was even released in 2023. But in South Korea, Aion remained popular and relevant over the years. It kept appearing in NCSoft’s financial reports alongside Blade & Soul and the Lineage games. After 5 years of silence about Aion 2, details about a successor have now become concrete.
An official gameplay trailer for Aion 2 was released in 2018:
Aion 2 was presented in 2018, initially as a pure mobile game
What we know so far about Aion 2: Aion 2 was introduced by NCSoft in 2018, along with Blade & Soul 2. At that time, some facts about the game were shared: Aion 2 is said to take place 900 years before the first part, and there should be no class restrictions. Anyone would be able to use any item.
The MMORPG should allow players to glide through the air on their own wings again: This unique feature was supposed to become even more important than in Aion 1.
The big catch back then: In 2018, it was said that the game would be a pure mobile game, released only for iOS and Android. However, NCSoft has since moved away from that, and the MORPG Aion 2 will also be released for PC.
A trailer from 2018 also introduced the world of Aion 2:
5 years without new information about Aion 2
What happened after 2018 regarding Aion 2? Practically nothing. As is typical for a Korean MMORPG, Aion 2 went “dark” after this presentation, and one heard nothing about the game or its development for 5 years.
This is how it works in Korea: An MMORPG is often announced early with a trailer that makes it seem as though the game will be released tomorrow. However, at that point, there is nothing but the trailer, and the game still needs to be developed.
Western players were already driven crazy by Lost Ark, where the announcement with the fancy trailer was still years away from the actual release.
Insider report: NCSoft disappointed with Throne and Liberty, focuses on Aion 2
This is what we now know about Aion 2: The Korean site MTN reported on September 25 from a source that “knows about NCSoft.” From this source, we now know some details that have not been officially confirmed:
- 240 employees are working on Aion 2 – most of them have previously worked on Lineage 2M, a successful mobile game. The timing fits: Lineage2M was released in November 2019 in South Korea, around the time when the development of Aion 2 probably gained momentum.
- According to a Japanese site, the head was exchanged in October 2021: Baek Seung-wook, who previously led “Lineage Eternal,” is now in charge.
- The scale of development is said to be roughly equivalent to that of “Throne and Liberty,” with the MMORPG set to be released in 2024. Aion 2 is expected to become the new “flagship project” of NCSoft, following Throne and Liberty.
Aion is to be the new license as Lineage is exhausted and Blade & Soul is not catching on
- It is said that NCSoft has now prioritized the development of Aion 2 higher because South Korean MMORPG players are getting tired of continuously playing new versions of Lineage. Additionally, Blade & Soul could not establish itself as a mobile title. The financial outlook for Throne and Liberty appears to be not very rosy according to NCSoft after the initial tests.
- At NCSoft, they also believe that the release of the Mobile MMORPG “Lineage W” in 2021 has taken some wind out of the sails of Throne and Liberty.
- Aion 2 is expected to be released in the best case in 2024, but at the latest in 2025 – it should be launched worldwide simultaneously in the West and Asia. The plan is to bring the game to PC and mobile platforms. NCSoft views Aion as a “not yet exhausted” IP.
- The MMORPG is said to feature a large open world that is even bigger than that of Aion and will be developed with Unreal Engine 5.
- Additionally, it is said that the MMORPG will support multiple languages.
The information is unconfirmed and should be taken with caution. However, they all sound plausible.
What could be off-putting? In South Korea, almost all new MMORPGs that are released for PC are also developed for mobile devices. This is off-putting at first for many players in the West, but it is clearly the direction that it will work for the foreseeable future.
In South Korea, it has become common to use a smartphone at home as a substitute PC.
“Pure PC and console games,” like the current Throne and Liberty from South Korea, are an exception. Additionally, as with all Asian MMORPGs, one should expect some peculiarities such as grind, gender lock, or an aggressive monetization system. Most Western MMORPG players are familiar with these peculiarities from games like Lost Ark or Black Desert.
It is interesting to note that players are gradually becoming tired of the “Lineage” franchise. NCSoft has consistently gone back to this well since the success of LineageM in recent years. Apparently, it is slowly running dry. This is also due to NCSoft licensing the “Lineage” license to Netmarble, which has also created successful mobile games based on Lineage.
The new “Throne and Liberty” is essentially Lineage 3.
The success prospects for Throne and Liberty indeed do not look too good. Many were looking forward to the MMORPG, but especially in the West, much hype has dissipated after some concerning news about the gameplay:
Does the MMORPG Throne and Liberty have a good combat system revision? I played for 30 minutes
