NCsoft, the company that created Aion, recently announced that they will release this game in North America on September 22, 2009. Aion, already released in Asia, won the award Best Korean Game of the Year for its "epic scale, immersive story, and stunning graphics and sound design" at the end of 2008. Even though Aion is popular among the gaming community of Korea and Southeast Asia, NCsoft's aspirations are that this game becomes global and played worldwide. NCsoft recently introduced their game at a major North American gamer festival known as the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) 2009 which was held in Seattle, Washington on September 4. While the beta testing is currently still in session, there is much anticipation for the release of this game among North American gamers.
Aion is classified as a MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) simliar to the likes of World of Warcraft created by Blizzard. Both are classified as dungeon fighting games.
Daniel Kim, a representative for Nexon America, stated, "America's gaming market is based on public opinion. If a majority of people rate a certain game excellently, readers trust their opinion and try out the game for themselves. If this game meets the majority of user expectations, this game can become an instant hit." He also stated, "I am confident that this game will be a success because of the popularity of these dungeon fighting games at arcades. We thoroughly molded the game to match a gamer's expectations."
NCsoft representative Lee Che-ho stated, "I am confident that this game can surpass WoW, which has been one of the most popular games for the past couple of years. The popularity of Aion in Korea is grand, and Aion is on it's way to becoming a success worldwide."
The manager of PAX met a college student named Trevor Bennet from Montana. This student stated, "When the game Maple Story was released, I was intrigued. If this new game Aion has more action, I will definitely enjoy playing this game with my friends."
NCsoft created other popular games such as City of Heroes, Guild Wars, and Lineage 2. They are confident that Aion is the new game to play.
