by Game of Review Team · published 2026-10-30 · updated 2026-10-30
A decade-plus sequel finally arrived
AION 2 is NCSoft's sequel to the long-running Aion MMORPG, and it finally launched globally on Steam and NC's own PURPLE platform on October 5, after a short early access window for Founder's Pack buyers that started September 30. It's a free-to-play MMORPG built in Unreal Engine 5, where players pick a faction and fight a persistent faction war across a world the developers describe as 36 times larger than the original game's.
A huge launch, by the numbers
- Steam-only peak concurrent players hit 397,905 on October 5, according to SteamDB, while NC's own combined count across Steam and PURPLE topped 400,000.
- It landed at #1 on Steam's global weekly top sellers chart for the week of September 29 to October 6, and reportedly reached #1 in 15 countries and regions during early access.
- As of October 6 it was also sitting at #1 in Steam's "New & Trending" and "Top Free to Play" lists.
Nearly a month later, it's still drawing a crowd
This isn't just a launch-week spike. SteamDB's live tracker shows AION 2 still pulling over 135,000 concurrent Steam players as of October 29, with a 24-hour average around 177,000 and a 24-hour peak above 231,000 — unusually strong retention for a brand-new MMO almost four weeks out.
What people actually think of it
Reception has been more mixed than the player counts suggest. Early write-ups and player feedback point to real complaints about monetization and some mobile-game-style systems bleeding into a PC MMO, while the leveling arc, combat feel, faction-war structure, and nods to the original Aion have won over a good chunk of returning fans.
Who it's for
AION 2 is worth a look if you want a big, free, PvP-heavy MMO with an actual faction war to sink time into right now — it's a tougher sell if you're wary of free-to-play monetization creep or you'd rather have a quieter, solo-friendly RPG.
Our take
AION 2's launch numbers are the real story here — NCSoft rarely pulls off a Western MMO launch this big, and holding six-figure concurrency nearly a month in says the faction-war hook is actually working, not just the free price tag. The monetization complaints are worth watching, though: free-to-play MMOs tend to lose their honeymoon crowd fast once players hit a cash-shop wall. Right now it reads as a genuine hit, but whether it holds this audience past the first season is the real test.
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