From the release back in 2014, to the multiple different versions it would release since, even to new iterations titled as Unchained – the name Archeage rings a bell to any MMORPG player. The game developed by Jake Song and his company over at XL Games, has gone through many changes over the years. However the biggest change now will be the transfer of publishing from Trion Games over to Kakao Games. Trion, which ended up paying almost half a million dollars in a class action suit due to false advertising, and breaking California’s illegal-lottery laws, has had its ups and downs as a publisher for Archeage. From its origins in 2006, when the team originally started at NCSoft and Electronic Arts, to its absorption into Gamigo US – a gaming company that most know as the parent company of Aeria Games.
All to say that Archeage has had quite a rocky history in the hands of its players, enough so to cause one certain player to be enraged enough to start to create his own MMORPG, a small title a few might know as Ashes of Creation. So to say that Trion was a perfect publisher is a bit out there, but it seems things are changing for the better, finally. In a transparent letter by XL Games and Kakao Games on the new Archeage website, the teams go into say that the game has had “both highs and lows”, but that “one fact is irrefutable; Archeage is and will always be one of the greatest MMOs in the history of the genre”. Well, perhaps its Alpha version, but it’s true the game did have a lot of potential and it demoralized an entire community of gamers after its rocky launch and mishandling over the years for Pay to Win and service.
Though as of December 2021 Kakao Games will be taking officially over Archeage, offering current players servers for North America, Europe and Oceania, not much is expected to change. After all, though Trion wasn’t the best at handling Archeage and what could have been, at the end of the day it was XL Games making the decisions. Could things change? Maybe. Will it though? Probably not. One thing’s for sure, Archeage continues to relaunch as it has been for years. With Archeage 2 already in development, is it even worth coming back after all those issues?
