Korea and Taiwan Launch

0:00 The Korea and Taiwan launch was the first release of Aion 2: gameplay opened at 00:00 KST on Nov 19, 2025, the evening of Nov 18 in Taiwan, on PC through NC's PURPLE launcher and on mobile. NC ran both services itself. Launch week combined heavy demand with server congestion, a name-reservation bug and a backlash against the cash shop that sent NC's shares down and brought an apology livestream; the company's own figures then showed more than 1.5 million daily users and KRW 100 billion in revenue within 46 days. The later worldwide PC release is covered on Global Release.

Quick facts

Before launch

Pre-registration opened on Sep 11, 2025 on the official site, Google Play and the App Store, with a Pet Selection Box and a 100,000 Kinah Box for every registrant. Server and character name reservations followed on Oct 16 and character pre-creation on Nov 16, and the PC client could be pre-installed through PURPLE. NCSOFT published its specifications for PC, phones and tablets on Nov 12, promising cross-play on one account and the same content on every platform (Platforms), and showed the game at G-STAR 2025, which opened on Nov 13. How the game reached this point is told on Development History.

Launch day

Gameplay opened at midnight Korean time with eight classes and two factions, Elyos and Asmodians, on separate servers. MassivelyOP counted 40 servers in Korea. Executive producer Seungwook Baek called Aion 2 "a fully realized world where you can walk, fly, and swim across everything you see", and NC released the game's 70-track Soundtrack the same day.

0:51 Players outside the two regions soon found a way in. As kets and his games explained a few days after launch, the Korean version was locked behind identity verification with a Korean ID number, but the Taiwanese version was open to anyone who chose Taiwan as the region of their NC account. High ping, he warned, was a real problem in an action game.

1:22 Getting in was not easy for everyone. Kira, posting the day after launch, said he had been unable to log in for about a day and a half, and that when he did the game was so laggy that he suspected the servers were under attack; he also described SMS verification failing for players with foreign phone numbers.

Launch-week problems and the apology

MassivelyOP reported on launch day that server congestion and a name-reservation bug forced repeated emergency maintenance. At the same time, cash-shop bundles turned out to contain gear-enhancement items that NC had said would not be sold. NC's share price fell by about 15%. The developers apologized on a livestream, where MassivelyOP identified head of business Sohn In-seop among those who spoke; NC removed the bundles, gave the items to all players, removed the cost of resetting skills and halved the price of consumables. The monetization dispute is covered in full on Controversies.

11:07 The response also changed how the game plays on phones. Kira read out NC's statement that it would introduce an assist mode to make hunting smoother on mobile devices, using skills automatically rather than automating hunting completely, and that an assist feature for the PC version was under consideration. NC's reveal in May 2025 had promised combat with no auto-combat.

3:40 Stability problems outlasted the first days. In his review of Nov 24, 2025 kets reported heavy lag spikes, frequent disconnects and poor hit registration, and full server-wide disconnects every night since release, although the client itself ran smoothly. Two days earlier MassivelyOP had noted that player complaints over monetization, bots and connection issues were continuing.

First numbers

NC released or confirmed a run of figures in the first weeks. All of them are the company's own claims rather than independent measurements.

The payment split explains why the game barely showed in mobile store charts. NC said: "We introduced a proprietary PC payment system at launch, and currently, PC payments account for over 90% of the total." On Nov 20 Aion 2 ranked fifth by revenue on the Apple App Store and between 30th and 40th on Google Play (Asia Economy). On Dec 1 the Korea Game Media Association and the Korea Game Journalists Club named it Game of G-Star 2025. How these numbers developed is on Reception and Revenue.

What players found

2:43 KaidGames2, after about 50 hours, found early leveling very smooth, perhaps too smooth, since the auto-questing played much of the game for him up to level 32. Around levels 34 and 35 the experience curve spiked and quests ran out, and some players reported being stuck at 37 with nothing left but grinding (Leveling).

7:55 He judged the monetization pay-to-win, though of a slower kind than the most aggressive games: pets, battle passes, enhancement materials and randomized upgrades all sold advantages, and an HP potion in the shop gave paying players more sustain in PvP.

0:52 Society Of Gaming walked through the two Taiwanese memberships as they stood on Nov 23, 2025. The basic Wind Breeze membership, at NT$430 a month, unlocked remote storage, personal trading, the Wind Breeze merchants, listing on the market and the Quna exchange; the premium membership, at NT$645, raised Odyle Energy Cube selections in Expedition and Transcendence dungeons, Shugo Festival keys and Odyle Energy charging and doubled Abyss hours; both together cost NT$980 (Membership).

9:01 The community reaction he gathered was mixed and leaned towards disappointment. Players liked the look and the atmosphere, but complained about the interface, stiff combat, a leveling wall, uneven PvP balance and bugs, and many felt the game had not been tested enough.

11:57 Bots were the other lasting complaint. Grobs, a month in, noted that the Membership required to trade had been expected to limit them, yet bots flooded the auction house, inflation on the Taiwanese servers was severe, and many players used macros to farm monsters for Kina and for the pet system (Pets and Mounts).

After the launch

NC kept the Korean team in front of players with livestreams and a steady run of updates. It published a Season 2 roadmap on Jan 7, 2026, and Season 2 began on Jan 21. In June 2026 NC consolidated the Korean Memberships into a single tier at a lower price, and on Jul 1, 2026 Chapter 1: Lands of Sand and Snow raised the level cap to 50, added new regions and the ninth class, the Brawler. The full list is on Updates and Seasons.

Frequently asked questions

When did Aion 2 launch in Korea and Taiwan? At 00:00 KST on Nov 19, 2025, which was the evening of Nov 18 in Taiwan, on PC and mobile at the same time.

Why did NC apologize at the Aion 2 launch? Cash-shop bundles contained gear-enhancement items NC had said would not be sold, and servers were congested. NC's shares fell about 15%; developers apologized on a livestream, removed the bundles, gave the items to all players and cut some costs.

How many people played Aion 2 at launch? NC said daily active users passed 1.5 million two days after launch and that 2.53 million characters were created in the first week. These are the company's figures.

Could players outside Korea and Taiwan play? Creators reported that the Korean version required Korean identity verification, while the Taiwanese version accepted accounts from elsewhere that chose Taiwan as their region. The global version for other regions opened to Founder's Pack buyers on Sep 30, 2026 and launched for everyone on Oct 5; NC says progress from the Korean or Taiwanese version does not carry over to it (Global Release).

Was Aion 2 on mobile in Korea and Taiwan? Yes. It launched on PC and on Android and iOS with cross-play, although NC said more than 90% of payments in the first days were made on PC.

Sources

• 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 Season 2 roadmap, NC, Jan 7, 2026
• SUMMER FESTA and Chapter 1 announcement, NC, Jun 17, 2026, and Chapter 1 update, NC, Jul 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
• 1.5 Million Users Enjoy NCSoft's 'Aion 2' Daily, Asia Economy, Nov 21, 2025
• NCSoft's 'Aion 2' Named This Year's 'Game of G-Star', Asia Economy, Dec 2, 2025
• Aion 2 platform specifications, Gamevu, Nov 12, 2025
• Aion 2 Full Review - SO Much Potential, But You Shouldn't Play It, kets and his games, Nov 24, 2025 (video)
• Aion 2 Release Is The Worst MMORPG Launch I've Ever Seen, Kira, Nov 20, 2025 (video)
• Aion 2 REVIEW After 50 HOURS! How Is P2W, PVE, PVP & What Are Players Saying?, KaidGames2, Nov 21, 2025 (video)
• Aion 2 Subscription Prices and Benefits - BATTLE PASSES and Subs Review Taiwan, Society Of Gaming, Nov 23, 2025 (video)
• I played Aion 2 for 250 hours... (Final Review), Grobs, Dec 20, 2025 (video)
• "Launch FAQ", NC on Steam, Sep 30, 2026