Controversies

0:00 Is Aion 2 pay to win? Opinions differ: NC says its shop items are cosmetic or consumable and do not affect gear progression, while critics, including creators who play in Korea and Taiwan, call it pay to win or pay to progress faster because Quna bought with money can be traded for Kina, which buys gear and upgrades. That argument is one of several public disputes around the game, most of them about money. The Korean and Taiwanese launch of Nov 19, 2025 brought a backlash over cash-shop bundles that led the developers to apologize on a livestream within a day, while the share price of NCSOFT (renamed NC in March 2026) fell; later arguments concerned bots, whether the game is pay to win, the Membership needed to trade on the global version, and AI-generated assets. The global Advanced Access of Sep 30, 2026 then opened an hour late to long queues and, at first, mostly negative Steam reviews. Kira's video of Nov 20, 2025, calling it one of the worst MMORPG launches he had seen and pointing to the share price and the emergency apology broadcast, shows the mood of that first week. This page reports what was said and what NC did, with dates; the model itself is described on Business Model.

Quick facts

The Korean launch backlash (November 2025)

According to MassivelyOP's report of Nov 19, 2025, which drew on Korean newspapers, players turned on the monetization almost as soon as the servers opened. The anger centered on cash-shop packages bundling gear-enhancement items that the studio had said would not be sold for money, a week after NCSOFT had told investors that Aion 2's monetization would be lighter and more user-friendly. Other complaints covered the interface, quality of life and performance (Korea and Taiwan Launch).

5:15 Kira, a Western creator who had followed the pre-launch broadcasts, recalled the game director saying that items with a deep effect on progression could not be bought with cash-shop currency.

6:51 In Kira's account, NCSOFT kept saying up to release day that it would not sell those progression items, and at launch they appeared in shop bundles containing several such items.

The lead developers then held an apologetic livestream. MassivelyOP reports that they promised to remove the offending bundles and give their enhancement items to every player for free, to remove the cost of resetting skills and to halve the price of cash-shop consumables; NCSOFT's head of business, Sohn In-seop, was quoted as saying he had no excuse to offer and was truly sorry.

7:48 CrusherXGaming, recalling the episode in August 2026, put the time between launch and the withdrawal of the combat items at about 15 hours.

10:55 The broadcast also promised changes beyond the shop. Kira notes that NCSOFT said it would add an assist mode for smoother hunting on mobile devices, using skills automatically rather than automating play entirely, and would consider it for the PC version (Platforms).

Share price

MassivelyOP reported that NCSOFT's stock value dropped by 15% after the launch, while cautioning that technology stocks were falling generally, so not all of the drop could be attributed to Aion 2, and that the stock was still up for the year. On Nov 22 it reported that the shares appeared to have recovered slightly even as JPMorgan downgraded them, and that NCSOFT had released, through the Korean outlet inews24, a figure of over KRW 10 billion in revenue for the first two days (MassivelyOP, Nov 22, 2025; Reception and Revenue).

Servers and connections

MassivelyOP reported congestion across the 40 Korean servers at launch and a bug that stopped players who had reserved a character name from connecting, which forced emergency maintenance more than once.

3:57 Playing on the Taiwanese servers, kets and his games described heavy lag spikes, frequent disconnects, poor hit registration and full server-wide disconnects every night in the first week, with hours of downtime a day; he did not know whether server load or attacks were to blame. MassivelyOP's follow-up of Nov 22 found players on the game's subreddit still raising connection problems alongside monetization and bots.

Bots

11:57 Bots became the longest-running complaint. Grobs said in December 2025 that the game was so full of bots that they flooded the auction house despite the subscription gate on trading, and that many players were also using macros to farm the open world for Kina and pet souls.

The Korean service answered with a series of measures. According to the fan site Aion2 Hub's translated patch notes, the update of Nov 26, 2025 gated brokerage to members and capped Kina from hunting, and the update of Jan 7, 2026 added a CAPTCHA anti-bot system. NC's split of bound and regular Kina in March 2026 was read by creators as aimed partly at bot farms (Kina and Quna).

4:54 By February 2026, aselon_eu reported, NC was claiming well over 200,000 bot accounts removed since launch, had added a CAPTCHA-style check, and had said at its latest developer livestream that bots were down to less than 5% of the player base. These are NC's claims as relayed by the creator.

9:18 The global test revived the worry. After the first day of the Launch Scale Test in September 2026, Anders reported faction chat full of real-money-trading spam, and noted that the global build opens faction chat at level 10, where Korea requires 45, and drops the level-45 gate on gathering that Korea uses against bots; with unbound Kina available from early dungeons, he expected headaches with bot farms at launch. NC's decision of Sep 19 to disable direct trade between players was presented as an anti-bot measure (see below).

12:36 Enforcement brought complaints of its own. CrusherXGaming said in August 2026 that Korea's rounds of account sanctions had been aggressive enough to catch legitimate players, some of them apparently for running peripheral software from Logitech or Razer in the background.

The pay-to-win argument

Whether Aion 2 is pay to win has been argued since launch. NC's position for the global version is that shop cosmetics are purely aesthetic and consumables do not affect gear progression (notice of Jul 8, 2026, as reported by Aion2 Hub). Critics point instead to the exchange, where Quna bought with money buys Kina, the currency of gear, crafting and upgrades (Market and Exchange).

3:38 Anders called that route a major pay-to-win mechanic in July 2026, arguing that a player who does not spend will never reach the level of someone able to spend US$10,000 to US$30,000 on the game.

6:13 aselon_eu judged after three months that the subscriptions and battle passes were not the main issue; the currency exchange was, because nearly everything in character progression runs on Kina.

10:43 He placed the game in a pay-to-skip or pay-to-progress-faster category, since players are not buying exclusive power that cannot be obtained through play, and left the definition of pay-to-win to viewers.

0:53 SywoGG, a Taiwan-server player, said in August 2026 that he had never been gatekept from any PvE content without spending, because there were always groups running at his gear score.

12:54 The argument carried over to the global version. Among the reviews of the Launch Scale Test, Jolsn's was the most critical: in his view Aion 2 is and will remain a pay-to-win MMORPG, because its Membership, battle passes and a shop that sells more than cosmetics all touch player power, and he expected the endgame to feel like a second job.

44:06 TheLazyPeon, who enjoyed the test more, said he did not trust NCSOFT not to ruin the game with pay-to-win as it had other games in the past, while still expecting everyone to get hours of free fun out of leveling to the cap.

8:06 Kentaro, comparing the test build with the Korean client, concluded that the game still has a pay-to-win monetization setup, but that the global client appears to be moving much closer to something fairer for the average player, while noting that NCSOFT does not have a good track record.

On the first day of Advanced Access, mein-mmo's Karsten Scholz wrote that despite all the adjustments the monetization still contains pay-to-win elements, and that tying the Market and the currency exchange to the optional subscription grates (Business Model).

The global Membership paywall

NC's global plan of Jul 8, 2026 kept the exchange and put both it and the Market behind a US$15 monthly Membership, as reported by Aion2 Hub; NC trimmed the price to US$14.99 on Sep 28, 2026 (Membership).

10:33 CrusherXGaming acknowledged that the worst of Korea's model was gone and the pay-to-win pressure much lower, but argued that calling the game free to play was doing some heavy lifting when the entire player economy sits behind a subscription: free to play, in his phrase, but not free to participate.

When the Founder's Packs went on sale on Jul 22, 2026 with no premium currency or subscription, Hardcore Gamer reported that many players online were upset (Hardcore Gamer, Jul 23, 2026).

3:18 NC responded on its first global livestream on Aug 7 by adding 30 days of Membership to all three packs, including those already bought, and said it wanted to follow the Korean team's practice of livestreams that address feedback; Anders's report on the change was titled as coming after a backlash. NC confirmed the change on Steam on Aug 21, 2026 (Steam, Aug 21, 2026).

On the same stream NC answered comments that the Founder's Pack cosmetics had been sold directly in the Korean shop by saying that on the global version they would be available only in the packs. The pack notes Anders read on Jul 23, 2026 had included a clause that components might be resold in identical or similar forms in the future.

Generative AI disclosure

Aion 2's Steam page discloses that some in-game assets were created with the assistance of AI tools, and that Arcana card designs and some icons use AI-generated assets (Steam, retrieved Sep 15, 2026; Arcana). MassivelyOP flagged it in its gamescom report of Aug 25, 2026, noting that the game had been called out for using generative AI (MassivelyOP, Aug 25, 2026).

The global Advanced Access launch (September 2026)

Delays and queues

Advanced Access for Founder's Pack buyers was scheduled to open on Sep 30, 2026 at 06:00 PDT (13:00 UTC). NC postponed it twice by 30 minutes, the second time "to resolve a few remaining issues", and opened at 07:00 PDT (14:00 UTC), giving every player ten Resurrection Spiritstones for the wait (Advanced Access). mein-mmo's live ticker then reported connection errors that threw players back to the main menu, character creation locked at first, and queues: a place around 1,500 took 30 to 45 minutes, and readers reported positions of 2,000 to 3,500. NC opened three more European server pairs during the day, asked queued players to create characters on recommended servers, and at 17:16 UTC apologized for "long queue times" with an Appearance Change Voucher for every player. Free transfers between servers of the same faction are to follow from Oct 14. NC published no queue figures (Servers).

Steam reviews

By NC's account the game reached #1 on Steam's global top sellers on Sep 30, and SteamDB recorded a peak of 171,530 concurrent Steam players that day, not counting PURPLE (Reception and Revenue). Its Steam reviews started badly. About 90 minutes after the servers opened, Insider Gaming reported that 61% of reviews were negative, and quoted buyers who had paid for access and met full servers and hours-long queues: "Not having server capacity in an MMO is the worst possible insult," one wrote. By the evening the score had settled at Mixed: as of Sep 30, 2026, SteamDB counted 529 positive reviews out of 929, about 57%.

"AI slop"

One of the negative reviews Insider Gaming quoted called Aion 2 "one of the first major AI slop games" and an "aggressive microtransaction simulator", and objected to paying a subscription to access a market. The Steam page's disclosure of AI-generated Arcana card designs and icons is described above.

Direct trade removed

When the Launch Scale Test ended, NC disabled direct player-to-player trades "as an anti-bot measure" on Sep 19, 2026, leaving the Market, where buying requires Membership, as the central hub for trading (Steam, Sep 19, 2026). The fan blog Aion Strategies pointed out that NC had advertised Personal Trading as a perk of the Special Quai Membership only a month earlier, when it added 30 days of Membership to every Founder's Pack, and that no replacement perk had been named. NC's Membership notice, revised on Sep 28, still lists personal trade (Membership; Market and Exchange).

The Founder's Pack cutoff

NC's own dates for the end of Founder's Pack sales disagree. Its notice of Sep 30 calls Oct 5 at 08:00 PDT (17:00 CEST) the last chance to buy, two hours after the free launch; NC America's press release of the same day says the pack is on sale "through Sunday, October 4"; and the product notice sells it until the end of early access (Founder's Packs).

Launch week (October 2026)

The free launch on Oct 5, 2026 opened on time, and its disputes were about rules rather than servers. On Oct 3, during Advanced Access, NC reversed a Founder's Pack rule after feedback: the pack cosmetics had been bound to one character, which players called an obstacle to playing with friends on other servers or leveling other classes, and NC made them usable on every character, letting Steam buyers who now wanted a higher tier ask for a refund of the lower one (NC on Steam; Founder's Packs). On Oct 4 NC warned that buying Kina or Quna from third parties would be punished "up to and including the termination of access to the game", adding: "Consider this your first and only warning" (NC on Steam). On launch morning it removed the Sanctuary raid Ludra, which early access players had cleared "at a lower level of overall progression than we originally intended", taking back the Ludra gear they had earned until a reworked raid returns (NC; Sanctuary Raids).

Steam reviews stayed Mixed through the launch, at 65% positive of 16,195 on the evening of Oct 7, 2026. GamesRadar's Anna Koselke found pay-to-win the subject dominating them on Oct 6, quoting one review that called the shop "extremely predatory monetization" and noting others with "slop" vibes, which she tied to the generative AI disclosure on the Steam page (GamesRadar+; Reception and Revenue).

Frequently asked questions

Why did NC apologize for Aion 2? Because of the Korean and Taiwanese launch of November 2025, when the cash shop sold bundles containing gear-enhancement items the studio had said would not be sold. The developers apologized on a livestream, removed the bundles and gave the items to all players.

Did NC's stock fall because of Aion 2? MassivelyOP reported a fall of about 15% after the launch, while noting that technology stocks were falling generally and that not all of the drop could be attributed to the game.

Does Aion 2 have a bot problem? Players reported heavy botting from launch. NC added anti-bot measures, and in February 2026 a creator relayed NC's claims of more than 200,000 bot accounts removed and bots below 5% of players.

Why is the global Membership controversial? Because buying on the Market and using the Kina and Quna Exchange require a Membership, US$14.99 for 30 days, which critics describe as a paywall on the player economy. Direct trade between players, once listed as a Membership perk, was disabled on Sep 19, 2026.

Why were Aion 2's Steam reviews negative at the global launch? Paying Founder's Pack buyers met an hour's delay and then long queues and full servers on Sep 30, 2026; Insider Gaming counted 61% negative reviews early that day. By the evening the rating was Mixed, about 57% positive of 929 reviews, as of Sep 30, 2026 (SteamDB).

Why did NC remove direct trading? NC called it an anti-bot measure when it disabled direct player-to-player trades on Sep 19, 2026. Critics noted that Personal Trading had been advertised as a Membership perk a month earlier.

Does Aion 2 use AI-generated art? Its Steam page says that Arcana card designs and some icons use AI-generated assets.

Sources

• "Ludra Awakens on November 4th", NC, Oct 23, 2026 (also on Steam)

• "Founder's Packs cosmetics soon available on all characters", Oct 3, 2026, and "Warning About Purchasing Illicit Currency", Oct 4, 2026, NC on Steam

• "Update on Sanctuary Raid", NC, Oct 5, 2026

• New MMO Aion 2 soars on Steam with nearly 400,000 concurrent players despite "Mixed" reviews grilling AI slop and pay-to-win shop, GamesRadar+ (Anna Koselke), Oct 6, 2026

• Aion 2's chaotic and overmonetized Korean release causes NCsoft stock to dip and devs to apologize, MassivelyOP, Nov 19, 2025

• Players continue to revolt over Aion 2's Korean release as NCsoft says it earned $6.8M in two days, MassivelyOP, Nov 22, 2025

• Aion 2 Publishes Official Global Business Model & Monetization Plan, Aion2 Hub (fan site), updated Jul 22, 2026

• Aion 2 Patch Notes - Official Update Notes (KR & Global), in English, Aion2 Hub (fan site), retrieved Sep 15, 2026

• Aion 2 Founder's Packs Revealed: Early Access, Skins, and Prices, Hardcore Gamer, Jul 23, 2026

• 30-Day Membership Added to Founder's Packs, NC on Steam, Aug 21, 2026

• Gamescom 2026: Aion 2 makes its global debut October 5 following stress test and headstart, MassivelyOP, Aug 25, 2026

• Aion 2 on Steam, Steam, retrieved Sep 15, 2026

• "Launch Scale Test Comes to a Close: What's Next?", NC on Steam, Sep 19, 2026

• Aion 2 Disables Direct Player Trading at Launch to Fight Bots, Aion Strategies (fan blog), Sep 20, 2026

• 8/18 (Tues) New Product Info: Special Quai Membership (Updated 9/28), NC, Aug 19, 2026, revised Sep 28, 2026

• "Notice about Client Decryption and Early Access Start Time (Extended)", NC on Steam, Sep 30, 2026

• Early access start moved to 7:00 AM PDT, NC on X, Sep 30, 2026

• Early Access Start Time, NC, Sep 30, 2026

• Early Access Queue Time Compensation, NC, Sep 30, 2026

• Jump Into Advanced Access Now!, NC, Sep 30, 2026

• "Information on server transfer", NC on Steam, Sep 30, 2026

• Aion 2 Reaches #1 on Steam Top Sellers Chart Ahead of Global Launch, NC America via Games Press, Sep 30, 2026

• SteamDB, read Sep 30, 2026

• Aion 2 user reviews, Steam, read Oct 7, 2026

• Aion 2 Tops Steam Charts Ahead of Global Release But Reviews Are Not Encouraging, Insider Gaming, Sep 30, 2026

• Aion 2 Tops Steam Charts Ahead of Global Release Amid Server Issues, Insider Gaming, Sep 30, 2026

• Aion 2 Early Access: Serverstatus - Alles zu Warteschlangen, Fehlercodes und mehr im Live-Ticker, mein-mmo, Sep 30, 2026

• Aion 2 hat das Zeug zum besten MMORPG seit vielen Jahren, aber das liegt nur bedingt an Aion 2, mein-mmo, Sep 30, 2026

• Aion 2 Release Is The Worst MMORPG Launch I've Ever Seen, Kira, Nov 20, 2025 (video)

• Aion 2 Full Review - SO Much Potential, But You Shouldn't Play It, kets and his games, Nov 24, 2025 (video)

• I played Aion 2 for 250 hours… (Final Review), Grobs, Dec 20, 2025 (video)

• Aion 2: Better or Worse? State of the Game (3 Months Later), aselon_eu, Feb 19, 2026 (video)

• Is Aion 2 Global Pay 2 Win? NC's Official Business Model - Complete Overview, Anders, Jul 9, 2026 (video)

• The Real P2W Truth From an Actual Aion 2 Player, SywoGG, Aug 6, 2026 (video)

• Aion 2 Adds 30-Day Subscription to Founder's Packs After Backlash, Anders, Aug 7, 2026 (video)

• Aion 2 Before You Play: $15 Paywall, All Classes & Global Changes, CrusherXGaming, Aug 16, 2026 (video)

• Aion 2 Global Build - Gear Stats Changed Completely, Genus Nerfed, Anders, Sep 18, 2026 (video)

• Aion 2 First Impressions - Is It Worth Playing?, Jolsn, Sep 20, 2026 (video)

• How the Aion 2 Global Launch Will Be Different, Kentaro, Sep 23, 2026 (video)

• Aion 2 First Impressions "Is It Worth Playing?", TheLazyPeon, Sep 28, 2026 (video)