An analysis from China has considered the upcoming MMORPG releases and assessed how significant the releases will actually be. Surprisingly, the first place is not taken by Aion 2.
What kind of analysis is this? The Chinese MMORPG magazine 17173 has looked at the 10 largest MMORPG releases for the year 2026. The authors have considered releases that will take place only in China as well as international releases.
However, in their opinion, the highly anticipated Aion 2 is by no means the most important release of 2026.
Here you can watch the trailer for Aion 2:
Honor of Kings: World in 1st Place
What kind of MMORPG is this? According to the magazine, Honor of Kings: World will be the largest MMORPG release this year. The game is the MMORPG spin-off of Honor of Kings, the major competitor to LoL from China.
Honor of Kings: World is therefore for players in China what the LoL MMORPG is for us in the West. Players are looking forward to reuniting with familiar characters, a new way to immerse themselves deeply in the world, and a MMORPG with high production quality.
According to 17173, however, there were problems despite the massive brand during the last tests. For instance, the closed beta showed low player retention, apparently due to rather monotonous gameplay. According to the magazine, there are difficulties in implementing the strong IP meaningfully while also being a standalone, good MMORPG.
This narrow balance is crucial, as the strong brand is the most important asset of the MMORPG. Important features should include the 4vs4 team PvP mode and in-depth PvX and social features. The authors, however, see an excessive focus on being a purely single-player MMORPG as the biggest risk for the game.
Here you can watch the trailer for Honor of Kings: World:
How does Aion 2 fare? The global release of Aion 2 lands only in fifth place in the analysis. The Chinese magazine sees a recurring story here: the hype around the new MMORPG is unabated in the West, but the pay-to-win monetization could lead to a rapid decline in player numbers.
According to the authors, many players on the Asian servers simply stop playing in the endgame, reminiscent of the trajectories of New World and Lost Ark. Aion 2 is said to share the same fate: a lot of hype followed by a similarly deep fall.
What does MeinMMO author Cedric Holmeier say?
Cedric Holmeier is an Asia MMO expert at MeinMMO and has spent thousands of hours in MMORPGs like Swords of Legends Online, Metin 2, Throne and Liberty, or Tarisland. Here is his assessment of the analysis:
Looking at all releases purely from the perspective of Chinese players, Honor of Kings: World could really be the biggest release in 2026. The MMORPG already proved at Gamescom 2025 with a huge booth just how much money is actually behind the project and that they also want to score in Europe.
The gameplay, however, has so far looked more like Tarisland or Blue Protocol: Star Resonance – both titles that flopped quite quickly after a short hype here with us. Honor of Kings: World could end up facing a similar fate.
The mentioned dangers of Aion 2 at the global release are also real. While in Korea and Taiwan battle passes and similar can easily cost over 40 euros a month, such prices would clearly exceed the willingness to pay of players here in the West.
If Aion 2 wants to win players in the West, it needs to convince with genuine content. A clear concept is necessary to remain relevant in the long term, and the content from the OG servers must be delivered quickly enough. If that succeeds, Aion 2 will also be successful despite all criticism – and will definitely surpass Honor of Kings: World in the West.
Currently, probably only a few fans in the West have Honor of Kings: World on their radar. Without the strong brand behind it, Western players will pay much more attention to the actual gameplay, which has yet to fully convince. You can learn more about the MMORPG here: New MMORPG from China wants to appear in the West, now provides new signals
