Aion 2 topped Steam’s Global Top Sellers chart during Advanced Access, but delays, queues, and server issues marred its strong debut. Read on to see how NC responded ahead of the October 5 launch.
Aion 2 Soars to the Top of Steam During Advanced Access
Eight Countries Have Aion 2 at #1 on Steam
Aion 2 climbed to the top of Steam’s Global Top Sellers chart shortly after its Advanced Access period began on September 30. As of writing, NC’s new MMORPG remains at the top of the Global Top Sellers chart, which ranks titles by revenue, ahead of games like Counter-Strike 2, Wuthering Waves, ACE COMBAT 8: WINGS OF THEVE, EA SPORTS FC 27, Aniimo, Minecraft Dungeons II, and WARDOGS.
NC America confirmed the milestone in a press release, noting that Aion 2 had also reached #1 on Steam in eight countries: Brazil, Canada, France, Italy, Poland, Singapore, Spain, and Thailand. The game was also ranked #3 in Japan and the United States.
"Reaching #1 on Steam ahead of launch is a strong start," said Merv Lee Kwai, Co-CEO of NC America and Executive Publishing Producer for Aion 2. He added that the company is looking beyond launch-day performance, focusing instead on supporting the game over time through steady content updates, maintaining the Aion franchise, and earning players’ trust after release.
Additionally, Aion 2 reached an all-time peak of 171,530 concurrent players on September 30, with more than 100,000 players still active at points the following day, according to SteamDB. These numbers came before the game’s full free-to-play release on October 5, with access currently limited to players who purchased a Founder’s Pack for Advanced Access.
Delays and Server Issues Hit Early Access Launch
While Aion 2 eventually reached massive player numbers, the anticipated MMORPG’s debut came with a rough launch. Aion 2’s Advanced Access period was originally scheduled to begin at 6 AM PDT on September 30, but NC delayed the launch to make final adjustments, pushing the opening back by about an hour. The publisher later confirmed the revised start time and handed out 10 Resurrection Stones as compensation for the delay.
Once servers finally opened, some players still struggled to actually get into the world of Atreia. In our review, we wrote about the constant disconnecting issues on launch day. On Reddit, players also reported servers restricting character creation almost immediately, while others were incorrectly told they didn't have Advanced Access after selecting a server, leading some to refund their purchase.
NC responded by expanding capacity almost immediately. On launch day, the company opened three additional Elyos/Asmodian server pairs in Europe and encouraged players to move to the new servers as they became available. More capacity followed shortly after in North America, suggesting the initial server setup was struggling to keep pace with demand.
Soon later, NC scheduled maintenance across all services to address what it described as a bottleneck affecting interactions with certain quest objects, temporarily preventing players from logging in, specifically for Elyos, the hero quests in Northern Tolbas Forest, Eastern Tolbas Forest, and Altamia Highland. For Asmodian, the hotfix targeted four hero quests located in Basfelt Ruins, Purifying Forest, Fafnite Deposit, and Impetusium Square.
Rocky launches and server queues are hardly unusual for highly anticipated MMOs, with games like Lost Ark and WoW: Forever having endured even rougher openings. However, with the massive number of Founder’s Pack sales already indicating demand for Aion 2’s Advanced Access, having more server capacity from the outset may have helped ease some of the initial pressure.
With the full free-to-play launch still set for October 5, hopefully the additional servers and lessons from Advanced Access will make for a much smoother second wave. For now, check out our review for Aion 2 below:
Aion 2 First Impressions Review | Good Combat Can't Save Its Bigger Problems
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AION 2 REACHES #1 ON STEAM TOP SELLERS CHART AHEAD OF GLOBAL LAUNCH
Reddit Character Creation Issues
