[Translation] Aion Races to 200k Concurrent Users

[Hellrose]

I won't keep translating numbers every 50k users hehe.. but these articles were interesting. Also, excuse my constant comparisons to WoW, my bf is a diehard WoW fan so I naturally look for info that might p1ss him off.

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Sources: Thisisgame Aion users Article, Thisisgame WoW article
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Aion Races to 200k Concurrent Users

First day breaks 100k mark; 200k reached in 5 days
80% of players are finding the game 'fun'
91% of players are 20+

After setting a record reaching 100k concurrent OBT users in the shortest amount of time in Korea, NCsoft's Aion has reached 200k concurrent users on the 5th day - November 15th around 8pm. Also impressive is the fact that the numbers hardly fluctuated throughout the weekend, maintaining a growing user rate right until the end of Sunday.

Aion is currently drawing a slightly older crowd, with 79% at ages 20~30 and 12% at 40+, showing that the gamer base has aged since the launch of NCsoft's past products.

In an in-game survey (pops up in game every 10 levels) that more than 300k players replied to, 79.9% reported that the game was 'very fun' or 'fun'.

Survey Results*: How fun is the game so far?

• Very Fun: 36.4%
• Fun: 43.5%
• Average: 18.1%
• Not Fun: 1%
• Extremely Not Fun: 1%

*note: majority of these numbers would have come from players within levels 10-20

Aion is also topping the charts as the number one game in netcafes since the beginning of OBT. (Meanwhile the user numbers of NCsoft's other games Lineage and Lineage2 haven't been much affected so far.)

Based on the numbers, Jaesung Lee an employee at NCsoft suggested that a large number of players that had stopped playing MMOs altogether have been revitalized by Aion.

But can Aion beat WoW? (In Korea)

At the current rate? It's more than possible.
Comparing Aion's user numbers to WoW's launch 4 years ago, there's no doubt that Aion is growing at a comparable rate. Back in 2004 when WoW conducted their OBT, they reached maximum concurrent user numbers of 240k, including the users in queue. Currently Aion's presumed to have 220k users when taking the queued users into account.

WoW has Aion beat in the speed new servers were set up (Aion is currently at 31 servers), but considering that WoW had a lot of server stability issues throughout OBT, the numbers were necessary as a buffer for downtimes.

WoW's OBT Timeline in Korea

• November 12th 2004: WoW starts kOBT with 12 servers. Servers are bombed with users and their website goes down. All servers experience heavy lag.
• November 15th 2004: 24 more servers added in 3 days, reaching a total of 36 servers. Servers are still bombed. At this point it's announced that concurrent user numbers in Korea had broken NA records. Blizzard is stumped.
• November 16th 2004: 8 more servers added. Total 44 servers.
• November 25th 2004: 11 more servers added. Blizzard Korea announces that they'd reached maximum capacity and stops accepting sign ups.
• December 25th 2004: 600k copies of World of Warcraft are pre-ordered. OBT maintains 200k concurrent users.
• January 16th 2005: Open beta ends. 65 total servers at this point. Maximum concurrent users recorded at 240k.
• January 18th 2005: WoW launches with 65 servers.
• January 20th 2005: WoW reaches 100k concurrent subscribed users.

The real race begins after launch

WoW had a very short beta period of 2 months before launching, and it seems that Aion will follow suit. Much of the content held off for after OBT, including the Abyss area, is ready for release so there is no real reason for NCsoft to continue the beta for too long.
There's very little doubt that Aion will reach the 240k OBT concurrent user record that WoW had set 4 years ago. The real question that remains is whether the subscribed user numbers will be equally as impressive.

[t0yo]

Ooo 200k ;o

Thanks for telling us HellRose. Though honestly, Aion will really have to test its strength come a few months after full release.

[Gabriel]

OMG! That is like over 30000 people joining per day :0

And over 1300 people joining per hour!
And over 23 people joining per minute!

[HunterX]

*waiting* XD Thx in advance Hellrose.

[justamemory]

noice!
asfhadfjaj

[DragonReborn]

Sounds pretty sweet to me!!! now get it over here plssss

[lyankyj]

Thanks, Hellrose!

[dalin]

thanks for the translation hellrose... its extra special sweet given that you compiled it in an effort to tick off your bf...

[Hellrose]

Originally Posted by dalin

thanks for the translation hellrose... its extra special sweet given that you compiled it in an effort to tick off your bf...

Yea he loves me ^_^ <3

[justamemory]

Counterfeit infection: WoW
Genuine infection: Aion

[Felluah]

Thanks for the translation of the interesting insights Hellrose

Nice to see so many people interested, and the growth being so steady. The interesting thing to watch when it launches is the number of people who actually subscribe and aren't just after a free ride in the OBT.

[The Dreamer]

This news has made me happy.

[gaeanprayer]

"WoW had a very short beta period of 2 months before launching, and it seems that Aion will follow suit. Much of the content held off for after OBT, including the Abyss area, is ready for release so there is no real reason for NCsoft to continue the beta for too long.
There's very little doubt that Aion will reach the 240k OBT concurrent user record that WoW had set 4 years ago. The real question that remains is whether the subscribed user numbers will be equally as impressive."

D: Wasn't it said we'd get the game soon after OB was finished? D: D: D: If OB only lasts two months....D: D: D:....D: *dares to dream*

[justamemory]

soon is just a word that preys on your expectations, a tool to pacify you to it's will.

[Killer]

thanks hellrose