During a Q&A session with the community, the developers of ArcheAge Chronicles revealed details about the payment model for the first time over the weekend. MeinMMO summarizes the most important points for you.
What kind of payment model will ArcheAge Chronicles use? The upcoming MMORPG from XL Games will be financed through a Buy2Play model with an in-game shop on consoles and PC. Specifically, the developers explain on the official Discord:
We will not implement pay-to-win mechanics that undermine the value of our players’ time and effort. Our core philosophy is to create a game that everyone can enjoy in their own way – whether they’re a fan of single-player action games or a long-time MMO veteran.
Our business model is based on a Buy-to-Play principle (B2P – one-time purchase of the game) with optional cosmetic items. Our goal is to offer a fair, player-friendly monetization model that players around the world can feel comfortable with.
This means that ArcheAge Chronicles will not only noticeably differentiate itself from its predecessor in terms of gameplay but also in monetization.
What was it like in ArcheAge again? The first ArcheAge initially relied on a Free2Play model with an optional subscription that could hardly be ignored by frequent players. After all, only those who had the subscription could regenerate important labor points offline and claim land for houses or farms.
Additionally, one could purchase potions for refreshing labor points and protective items for random effects during crafting for real money. To make matters worse, there was also Apex, a counterpart to the WoW token that significantly boosted the real money trade of gold.
The pay-to-win influence grew over time through all these elements, leading to the payment model of ArcheAge gaining an increasingly bad reputation in the MMO community. Even the 2019 released Unchained version with a Buy2Play model could not change that.
Housing like in the first part
What else do the developers reveal? In the Q&A session on the official Discord, many other aspects of the MMORPG are also discussed. However, we already knew many of these details from our interview with XL Games in August 2025.
For example, ArcheAge Chronicles wants to offer an action combat system that “is easy to learn, but over time provides depth and room for mastery.” Thanks to feedback from internal tests, they were already able to make noticeable optimizations here, such as effects on hits or the optional lock-on function for targeting enemies.
Interestingly, the developers emphasize that housing in ArcheAge Chronicles will not be instanced:
Like in the original ArcheAge, players will be able to own, freely design, showcase their own houses in the shared MMO world, and visit their friends’ houses.
So far, exploration of the game world has received the most praise in tests and on social media, for which players can use a glider, among other things. But the overall visual quality of the game is also said to have received a lot of praise. At the same time, three points have been identified that will be addressed with high priority in the coming months:
- expand the MMO content and systems to promote more natural interaction between players in the shared online world
- further refine the combat experience to better highlight the unique playstyle and identity of each weapon
- continue to improve quality-of-life features and overall optimization
Finally, the developers have commented once more on the gameplay focus of the MMORPG and for the first time mentioned raids for 20 players. For the launch, PvE will have the highest priority. The planned PvP content will be addressed at a later time. More on that: ArcheAge Chronicles reveals how much MMORPG is in it – a solo game for 20 players
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