Aion 2: NCSOFT signs with Shengqu Games for China and brings out the big guns at ChinaJoy — what this changes (or doesn't) for Europe

Two months before the launch of its Western service, NCSOFT has just secured the last major market missing from Aion 2. On July 30, 2026, the Korean publisher signed a strategic partnership with Shengqu Games for the publishing of the MMORPG in mainland China, during a ceremony held at the Shanghai Tower Garden Ballroom, on the eve of the ChinaJoy opening.

Right after, NCSOFT set up at the show what it describes as the largest booth dedicated to a single game in the entire event. And on August 1, the publisher quietly added a clarification that directly concerns Western players: the "Asia" server region of the global service does not include mainland China.

Shengqu Games: a partner that has run Aion for 17 years

The choice is anything but improvised. Shengqu Games has operated Aion in China since 2009, meaning seventeen years of continuous service on the franchise. The two companies also co-developed Aion Mobile.

NCSOFT highlights a figure to justify the renewed partnership: over the years, the Chinese version of Aion is said to have accumulated more than 100 million users. In a market where the success of a Western or Korean MMO depends almost entirely on the quality of its local publisher, continuity is a serious argument.

In China, the game will be called "Yongheng zhi Ta 2" (永恒之塔2), literally "Tower of Eternity 2" — a direct legacy of the Chinese title of the first Aion. No Chinese launch date has been announced: NCSOFT and Shengqu Games state that details will come later, which makes sense as long as the licensing process has not been completed.

ChinaJoy: the Fire Temple as a selling point

ChinaJoy 2026 was held from July 31 to August 3, and NCSOFT went all out.

The Aion 2 booth offered PC demo zones centered on very specific content: the Fire Temple dungeon — one of the most iconic locations from the first Aion. It's a clever choice: rather than selling novelty, NCSOFT played the nostalgia card for an audience that has been playing the franchise since 2009. Around it, an immersive dome screen, photo areas with cosplayers and a custom merchandise workshop rounded out the setup, along with an esports-style staging for spectators.

The Aion Classic booth, focused on mobile, meanwhile featured Haramel, Nochsana and the Fire Temple. An important piece of information slipped in along the way: Aion Classic is set to enter closed beta in China sometime in August 2026. NCSOFT is therefore moving forward on two fronts at once.

The Korean numbers that explain the Chinese appetite

To understand why NCSOFT is pushing so hard, one need only look at what Aion 2 has produced since its release in South Korea and Taiwan on November 19, 2025:

• 1.5 million daily active players;
• revenue exceeding 100 billion won in 46 days, roughly 60 to 65 million euros depending on the exchange rate.

For a publisher that has strung together disappointing launches in recent years, Aion 2 is the first real success in a long time. These numbers explain the aggressive expansion strategy — China, the West, mobile — being pursued in parallel.

What this changes for European players: nothing, and that's the point

This is the point that deserves the most attention, and it comes from an update on August 1^st: the "Asia" server region of the global service does not include mainland China, which is licensed and operated separately by Shengqu Games.

In other words, we need to stop thinking of Aion 2 as a single game with multiple entry points. There will eventually be at least three distinct services: the Korean and Taiwanese service launched in November 2025, NC America's global service, and Shengqu Games' Chinese service. Content, update schedules, balancing and monetization may diverge from one service to another.

In concrete terms, for a European player, this means two things.

First, there's no shared player pool with China. Concerns about queue times and about the presence of Chinese bot farms on Western servers — a classic worry in the genre — don't apply here.

Second, Chinese information should be treated with caution. In the coming months, patch notes, class balancing changes and content announcements will circulate out of China. They won't automatically apply to the global service. The same caution already applies to Korean content, whose Chapter 1 served as the basis for the Western build without being an exact copy of it.

The Western schedule, meanwhile, stays the same

A reminder of the dates that actually matter for French-speaking players:

• September 30, 2026 — opening of early access reserved for Founder's Pack holders, five days ahead of launch;
• October 5, 2026 — global release and general opening.

Founder's Packs have been on sale since July 22 on Steam and PURPLE, in three tiers: Standard at $24.99, Deluxe at $49.99 and Ultimate at $99.99. Servers will be split between North America, South America, Europe and Asia, with support for ten languages, including French.

We previously detailed how this early access works — dedicated servers, regional group finder, delayed cross-server marketplace, character transfers with no timeline yet — in our earlier articles covering the global launch.

Our take

This Chinese partnership has no immediate effect on your gameplay experience. It does have one on the trajectory of the title.

A free-to-play MMO backed by an optional subscription lives or dies on its ability to maintain a sufficient population for years. Securing the Chinese market with a partner established for seventeen years locks in a revenue stream that funds the development of content that will benefit all servers, including ours.

It's also, incidentally, a signal sent to investors two months ahead of a Western launch on which NCSOFT is betting big. The game will arrive in Europe with a demanding business model and entrenched competition. It will need all the support it can get.