Development History

0:00 The public development history of Aion 2 begins on May 29, 2025, when NCSOFT revealed the game's core content on the first Aion2NIGHT livestream and its Korean channel released a gameplay trailer. Over the next six months the company, renamed NC in March 2026, ran a Focus Group Test, held further livestreams on combat, content, the business model and the Abyss, opened pre-registration and showed the game at G-STAR 2025, then launched it in Korea and Taiwan on Nov 19, 2025. In 2026 it turned to a worldwide PC release: an open test on Sep 17 and 18, Founder's Pack early access from Sep 30, and a free-to-play launch on Oct 5, 2026. The launches themselves have their own pages, Korea and Taiwan Launch, Advanced Access and Global Release.

Quick facts

Origins

12:08 NC has not published a date on which development began. Speaking to western players in August 2026, NC America's senior producer described Aion 2 as the game the team had envisioned when it made the original Aion "over 20 years ago", saying that "the technology has finally caught up" with that vision: a world in which anything visible, even a Balaur ship high in the sky, can be reached by flying to it.

0:00 TheLazyPeon, introducing new footage in August 2025, said the game had been in development since 2018. He admitted that he had expected little from the announcement, which had looked to him like a mobile game with a PC port of the kind he associated with Blade & Soul 2, and that the footage changed his mind.

The first reveal: Aion2NIGHT, May 29, 2025

Chief Business Officer Seunguk Baek, head of Aion 2 development, and producer Namjoon Kim hosted the first Aion2NIGHT. They set the game 200 years after the original in a world 36 times larger, with full aerial freedom in every region and underwater exploration, which the original lacked, under the principle "explore everything you can see". Combat would be manual, with hit confirmation and no auto-combat. Characters would have over 200 adjustable features, and over 200 dungeons would run from solo play to groups of eight, with Easy Mode instances for newcomers. Elyos and Asmodians would play on separate servers to improve faction balance, with the story leading into Realm-vs-Realm battles; the Fire Temple would return with new mechanics, and defeated monsters could be tamed as mounts (NC, Jun 4, 2025).

NC's English account of the reveal described the eight classes as follows. The long-range class was listed there as Marksman; NC's later English material calls it Ranger.

Focus Group Test and the August livestream

In June 2025 NC held a Focus Group Test at its R&D Center, where, according to NC, participants praised the combat and the character customization. A second Aion2NIGHT followed on Aug 8, 2025. It showed a boss fight against Kromede in the reimagined Fire Temple and the customization of face, hair, makeup, styling and body type, and it laid out the content map below. Kim said that "the Trade system enables players to exchange items using in-game currency instead of premium currency". The launch window was then the fourth quarter of 2025 (NC, Aug 12, 2025).

3:22 Footage from the Korean livestream and from a Taiwanese developer stream reached western players through creators. TheLazyPeon's video of Aug 22, 2025 cut together the Ranger, Sorcerer, Cleric and Templar in combat and dungeons.

0:27 He relayed the developers' position on mobile: the game would be playable on phones, but mobile players were not expected to take on the difficult content, and the mobile version was meant for casual activities such as crafting, gathering and mini-games (Platforms).

10:55 His summary of the planned content as of August 2025 listed 1v1 and 4v4 arenas, 8v8 payload battlegrounds, rifts into enemy territory, the Abyss and a battlefield for ground and aerial combat; solo Nightmare dungeons of ten bosses, 60 Sealed Dungeons per faction, Garrisons and time-attack Awakening Battles; and, for groups, Expeditions for up to four players, ten-stage Transcendence dungeons, four-player Subjugation boss fights and eight-player Sanctuary raids (Dungeons, PvP).

12:13 He also reported that an auto-combat feature aiming at partial automation was in development but not shown, that gear stats would be random, and that wings had been described as cosmetic rather than pay-to-win.

Business model, the Abyss and pre-registration

The third Aion2NIGHT, on Sep 10, 2025, showed mobile play, the business model and a competitive Abyss demonstration with an Assassin, and brought back the Flight Circles of the original (Flight and Wings, The Abyss (Reshanta)). The business model presented Memberships and Passes, cosmetic Costumes, Weapon Skins, Pets and Wings, and an exchange from in-game currency to premium currency (Business Model). In the question-and-answer segment the developers took questions on the mobile-style interface, teleporting to dungeons, the currency used in the Exchange and the auto-play system (NC, Sep 12, 2025).

Pre-registration opened the next day, Sep 11, on the official site, Google Play and the App Store. Every registrant was promised a Pet Selection Box (Zaif or Papis) and a 100,000 Kinah Box, and those who signed up by Sep 14 entered a draw for G-STAR 2025 tickets. Server and character name reservations were set for Oct 16 and character pre-creation for Nov 16.

4:08 Those months of promises shaped how the launch was received. Kira, a critic of the game, argued the day after launch that NC had spent months telling players and shareholders that Aion 2 would have fairer monetization, and that the cash shop it launched with broke those promises (Controversies).

October and November 2025: G-STAR and launch

0:00 At the Seoul GeForce Gamer Festival in October 2025 NVIDIA showed an "RTX On" narrative trailer for the game.

On Nov 12, 2025 NCSOFT published its specifications for PC, phones and tablets, stressing cross-play on a single account and that all in-game content would be provided equally on every platform (Gamevu, Nov 12, 2025; System Requirements).

NC showed Aion 2 at G-STAR 2025, which opened on Nov 13. The Korea Game Media Association and the Korea Game Journalists Club later named it Game of G-Star, an award they have given since 2018 to the game of the highest overall quality at the show, and Kim accepted it at NC's R&D Center in Pangyo on Dec 1, 2025.

Gameplay opened at 00:00 KST on Nov 19, 2025 in Korea and Taiwan, on PC through PURPLE and on mobile. Executive producer Seungwook Baek called it "a fully realized world where you can walk, fly, and swim across everything you see, endlessly exploring the ideals the original dreamed of" (NC, Nov 18, 2025). The 70-track Soundtrack was released the same day.

Taking Aion 2 worldwide

NC's report for the third quarter of 2025 put a global launch in the second half of 2026, and in May 2026 it narrowed that to the third quarter (MassivelyOP, May 14, 2026). NC announced the "Global Service for Aion 2 coming in 2026" on Steam on Apr 21, 2026, with servers in North America, South America, Europe and Japan and eight in-game languages, and promised more developer news in May.

0:00 An announce teaser trailer came with the news.

NC's press release called the global version "built specifically for PC" and named NC America, in Irvine, California, as its western publisher.

By then the Korean version had been through Season 2 and a class overhaul, and the global plan drew on that experience. Hardcore Gamer reported in June 2026 that the worldwide version would run about a year behind Korea in content, with decisions driven by community input and player progression data.

22:35 One lesson was stated outright. On NC's dungeon stream of Sep 4, 2026 its senior producer said the global version would have no Heroic-grade gear in its first season, from dungeons or crafting, because Korean players had pushed so hard for Heroic gear that anything less felt like a step to rush past; the aim was to slow the pace of progression (Gear Progression).

The dates followed: a September window at Summer Game Fest on Jun 5, 2026, then Oct 5, 2026 at gamescom on Aug 25, with an open Launch Scale Test on Sep 17 and 18.

The global launch was run from NC America in Irvine. Its public face was Merv Lee Kwai, whose title varies from source to source: Executive Publishing Producer in NC's release of Sep 21, 2026, co-CEO of NC America and Executive Publishing Producer for Aion 2 in NC's release of Sep 30, and NC America VP of Operations in MassivelyOP's report of Sep 29. In an MMORPG.com interview published on Sep 28 he defined success as participation, honoring the franchise and "durability", and said the pace of global content was still undecided because regions consume content at different speeds (NC, Updates and Seasons).

September 2026: the test, early access and launch

15:02 The Launch Scale Test ran for six hours on each of Sep 17 and 18, 2026, open to anyone with no keys, on PURPLE and on Steam as a separate Playtest app, with a level cap of 37 and the shop and trading switched off. Streaming the second day for NC, community broadcaster Stella reminded players that nothing done in the test would carry over: it was purely a chance to experience the game, and everyone would make a new character for launch.

2:03 EUTOPIA's recap after the first day noted a Steam peak of 73,000 players, with PURPLE not counted, two more European servers added within the first 90 minutes, and a client hotfix before the second day that fixed quest interactions, appearance tickets, reporting errors and crashes. SteamDB records the peak as 73,761 concurrent players on Sep 17 (SteamDB, read Sep 30, 2026).

After the test NC turned off direct player-to-player trading as an anti-bot measure, leaving the Market as the place to trade, and introduced a priority queue for members in good standing when a server is full (NC on Steam).

1:54:54 Stella closed the same stream by revealing War for Atreia: 60 MMORPG creators in six teams spanning North America, Europe and Latin America, fighting a two-week campaign of competitive events and viewer challenges, with Twitch drops, a live draft stream on Sep 23, and a start on Sep 30 to coincide with early access. NC's release of Sep 30 gives the event's run as Sep 30 to Oct 14.

Pre-download opened to all players on Sep 28, with the files encrypted until Sep 30, and on Sep 29 NC named the first Advanced Access servers: ten pairs of single-faction servers across Europe, NA West, NA East, Latin America and Asia (Servers). Advanced Access, five days of early play for Founder's Pack buyers, was due at 06:00 PDT (13:00 UTC) on Sep 30 and opened an hour late, at 07:00 PDT (14:00 UTC), after two 30-minute delays. NC gave every player 10 Resurrection Spiritstones for the wait, opened three more European server pairs during the day and apologized for long queues with an Appearance Change Voucher (Advanced Access).

0:00 NC released its official launch trailer, Heirs of the Broken Sky, at 14:01 UTC on Sep 30, as the servers opened. It begins on a sword standing in cracked earth, lifts to the Aion 2 logo in the clouds and follows a winged Daeva into a fight among purple-blossomed trees.

Advanced Access ended at 22:00 PDT on Oct 4. After an eight-hour maintenance, the free-to-play global launch opened to everyone on time, at 06:00 PDT (13:00 UTC) on Oct 5, 2026, with 43 server pairs that grew to 49 the same day, and peaked at 397,905 concurrent players on Steam (SteamDB). NC took the Sanctuary raid Ludra out of the launch build to rework it, and free server transfers within a faction are due to start on Oct 14 (Global Release).

Frequently asked questions

When was Aion 2 first revealed? On May 29, 2025, on the first Aion2NIGHT livestream, hosted by Seunguk Baek and Namjoon Kim, with a gameplay trailer on NC's Korean YouTube channel.

Who led the development of Aion 2? Seungwook Baek, NC's Chief Business Officer, headed development and served as executive producer; Namjoon Kim was producer, later titled Development Producer and Game Director.

Did Aion 2 have a test before launch? NC's releases describe a Focus Group Test at its R&D Center in June 2025, before the Korean launch. The global version had an open Launch Scale Test on Sep 17 and 18, 2026, which peaked at 73,761 concurrent players on Steam.

When did the global version come out? Founder's Pack buyers played from Sep 30, 2026, when Advanced Access opened. The free-to-play launch for everyone followed, on time, on Oct 5, 2026 at 06:00 PDT (13:00 UTC).

Who runs the global version? NC America in Irvine, California publishes it. Its lead, Merv Lee Kwai, is named in NC's releases as Executive Publishing Producer and, from Sep 30, 2026, also as co-CEO of NC America; MassivelyOP has called him NC America's VP of Operations.

What engine does Aion 2 use? Unreal Engine 5.

When did NC announce the global version? NC told investors in its third-quarter 2025 report that a global launch would come in the second half of 2026, and announced the global service publicly on Steam on Apr 21, 2026.

Sources

• "Aion 2 Will Launch On Time" and "Launch Into Aion 2 Now!", NC on Steam, Oct 5, 2026; Aion 2 charts, SteamDB, read Oct 7, 2026

• Aion2 Core Content Reveal, NC, Jun 4, 2025

• Aion2NIGHT recap: Focus Group Test and content map, NC, Aug 12, 2025

• Aion 2 pre-registration, business model and Abyss, NC, Sep 12, 2025

• Aion 2 launch release, NC, Nov 18, 2025

• Aion 2 Launches with The Echoes of Eternity, NC, Nov 19, 2025

• Aion 2 platform specifications, Gamevu, Nov 12, 2025

• NCSoft's 'Aion 2' Named This Year's 'Game of G-Star', Asia Economy, Dec 2, 2025

• 永恆之塔2, Chinese Wikipedia, last edited Sep 13, 2026

• "Announcing Aion 2's Global Release", NC on Steam, Apr 21, 2026

• Aion 2 launching this year on PC, NC press release on Gamespress, Apr 21, 2026

• NCSOFT Q1 2026, MassivelyOP, May 14, 2026

• Aion 2 SGF interview, Hardcore Gamer, Jun 16, 2026

• "Launch Scale Test: Day 1", NC on Steam, Sep 17, 2026

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

• Aion 2 Hot Fix Update and New LST Servers Opening: Day 1, NC, Sep 17 and 18, 2026

• NC's War for Atreia creator event, NC America press release on Games Press, Sep 21, 2026

• Interview: Aion 2's Merv Lee Kwai on the MMO genre, risks and what success looks like, MMORPG.com (Joseph Bradford), Sep 28, 2026

• "Pre-download Available Now", NC on Steam, Sep 28, 2026

• "Advanced Access Servers", NC on Steam, Sep 29, 2026

• NC America's Merv Lee Kwai on the MMORPG genre's low moment and what success is for Aion 2, MassivelyOP, Sep 29, 2026

• Early Access Start Time, Early Access Queue Time Compensation and New Servers Opening (Europe), 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 press release on Games Press, Sep 30, 2026

• Aion 2 Playtest charts, SteamDB, read Sep 30, 2026

• 아이온2 게임플레이 트레일러, Aion2, May 29, 2025 (video)

• Aion 2 FINALLY Shows Gameplay - New MMORPG, TheLazyPeon, Aug 22, 2025 (video)

• Aion2 | RTX On Narrative Trailer - Seoul GeForce Gamer Festival, NVIDIA GeForce, Oct 30, 2025 (video)

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

• Aion 2 - Official Announce Teaser Trailer, IGN, Apr 21, 2026 (video)

• Beyond the Abyss: Global Release Preview, Aug 7, 2026, and Dungeon Live Gameplay Showcase, Sep 4, 2026, Aion 2 Official (videos)

• Launch Scale Test: Let's Play with Stella, Aion 2 Official, Sep 18, 2026 (video)

• Aion 2 Global Guide - What's DIFFERENT From Korea?, EUTOPIA, Sep 18, 2026 (video)

• Heirs of the Broken Sky - Official Launch Trailer, Aion 2 Official, Sep 30, 2026 (video)