AION 2 Nearly Hits 400,000 Steam Players and Tops the Weekly Sales Chart

AION 2 officially launched globally on October 5 after a five-day paid Advanced Access period for Founder's Pack owners. SteamDB recorded a peak of 397,905 simultaneous Steam players on launch day, more than double the 171,530 peak reached during Advanced Access. NC said the combined global service exceeded 400,000 concurrent users, with Steam and the company's PURPLE launcher feeding the same global service.The commercial momentum was just as strong. AION 2 reached the top of Steam's Global Top Sellers chart by revenue and also led the Popular New Releases and Trending Free categories around launch. Valve's weekly revenue ranking for September 29 through October 6 placed AION 2 first overall, ahead of Counter-Strike 2 and ACE COMBAT 8: WINGS OF THEVE.The reception has been more complicated than the player numbers suggest. Steam reviews remain Mixed, with recurring criticism aimed at aggressive monetization and the visible use of generative AI in some assets. At the same time, many players have praised the scale of the world, character creation, aerial combat, and the return to a familiar MMO universe.For NC, the launch is a major test of whether that enormous first-week audience can be retained. A launch peak proves that interest is there, but an MMO ultimately lives or dies on long-term progression, content cadence, economy balance, and how quickly the developers respond to the issues dominating early reviews. For now, AION 2 has at least won the first battle: getting hundreds of thousands of players through the door at the same time.