According to NCSOFT, an aggressive economic model obeys the loyalty of players. To remedy this, the studio is looking for the right balance between monetization and community engagement for Aion 2, based on Battle Pass and cosmetic store.
This week, Ncsoft presented the accounts of his second quarter of 2025. The Korean giant again accuses a net deficit (the equivalent of 22.3 million euros in losses), but also praises an increase in turnover – established at 237 million euros, an increase of 4% compared to the same second quarter last year. The first NCSOFT circle explains these losses by the investments necessary for the finalization of the development ofAion 2 (the release of which is expected at the end of the year in Korea), but considers that the turnover is revealing the interests of the players for its catalog – in particular the launches of Blade and Soul Neo and Aion Classic, but also the location of several mobile titles in China or Southeast Asia.
It is mainly retained that Iion 2 is intended to be the main growth engine of the group in the future. According to Ncsoft, as development is finalized, “confidence in Aion 2 increases considerably” within the development team and the studio says “to note positive results during the various tests”. Including act.
However, still according to the executives of NCSOFT, one of the challenges of the success of the title will be based on its ability to retain players. In recent years, NCSOFT has been able to prick the curiosity of the players with the launches of its titles, but the group is struggling to keep its bases of players in the durably and NCSOFT impute it in particular to its economic models – too aggressive and which would make the players flee. An error that the studio does not intend to reproduce with Aion 2.
A less aggressive economic model to better retain players
The economic model of Aion 2 will be detailed during a new presentation in September, but already, the studio specifies that the MMORPG will not offer “no loot boxes or models up to excessive ”(in other words, if random elements are introduced into the game, the chances of earnings will be high). According to the studio, combat passes (without random content) and the cosmetic elements will be the basis of the economic model of Aion 2.
The studio explains this choice by the profitability curve observed in its previous games: “In the past, we have found that aggressive economic models lead to a very high turnover [à la sortie du jeu] And a strong profitability, followed by a drop in the number of players and therefore of turnover ”. The studio sales team is currently working on another approach for the economic model, “capable of supporting the long -term players’ base”. In other words, the studio says it wants to favor an important little monetized player base, rather than aggressive monetization on few players. And to specify: “We want to avoid a cyclic model where the turnover increases and then decreases sharply”.
Obviously, the speech is aimed at the financial press and therefore to investors, first interested in the upcoming profitability of the MMORPG. The fact remains that Ncsoft obviously begins to apply his “new philosophy”. Initially, Aion 2 had been submitted to the Korean Games Classification Office (the GRAC), which had decided to prohibit the MMORPG to minors, due to its economic model – financial requests had been deemed too close to those of gambling. The model has been redesigned: the purchases initially envisaged in real money are now made in kinas – the currency of the game. This new version of Aion 2 was subjected again to the classification agency, with its model based on Battle Pass and cosmetic store. We are still awaiting the result of the revision, but the studio is now aiming for a more general public classification. See you in September for a more concrete presentation.
