AION 2 Release Date: October 5 Worldwide, September 30 Early

Short answer: October 5, 2026, a Monday, worldwide. PC only. The two entry points are Steam and PURPLE. If you want in early, remember September 30 - that is when Founder’s Pack owners start their five days, running through October 4.

The date moved. NC announced the new one during gamescom’s Opening Night Live on August 25, 2026.

The dates worth writing down

The date is not a single-source claim. Steam’s store page reads Oct 5, 2026, NC’s gamescom press release says “Monday, October 5”, and the official global teaser site posts “Official Launch on October 5, 2026”. All three agree.

What time the test actually ran

NC gave only two time zones: Pacific Daylight Time and Central European Summer Time. Everyone else has to convert.

• Day one, September 17: 6:00-12:00 PDT, which is 15:00-21:00 CEST
• Day two, September 18: 12:00-18:00 PDT, which is 21:00 CEST to 03:00 the next day

How to convert: add 9 hours to PDT and you get CEST. Add 6 more and you get Beijing time. So day one was September 17, 21:00 to September 18, 03:00 Beijing time, and day two was September 19, 03:00 to 09:00.

Note that each day was only six hours, not all day. That was deliberate - NC wanted everyone crammed into the same window to stress the servers.

Will the servers open at one global moment on launch day? NC has not published a time table. That is in “What has not been announced” below.

Why it moved from September to October

On August 25, 2026, NC announced the new date at gamescom’s Opening Night Live. The same day’s press release listed October 5. Gematsu’s write-up used the phrase “a delay from its previously planned September release”, which confirms September was the earlier plan.

NC never explained why. Anyone telling you it was “for server optimisation” or “to dodge a certain game” is guessing. This page does not repeat guesses.

What it means for you: if you booked leave or set a budget around September, move it to October 5 and September 30.

Korea and Taiwan’s dates are not the global dates

AION 2 has been live in Korea and Taiwan since November 19, 2025, on PC, iOS and Android.

That is a separate service. The global release is the PC build arriving October 5, 2026, and accounts and progress do not carry over.

This matters because most of the “AION 2 is already playable” talk online comes from the Asia service. The level cap, regions and dungeons you see there were never promised for the global build.

If you want to practise on the Asia service, know the trade: you keep the feel and the knowledge. You do not keep the character.

What has not been announced

• The exact opening time on launch day. NC gave the date, not a global opening schedule.
• Whether the global build includes the Asia service’s Chapter 1 content. There is no content-parity list.
• What pre-registration rewards are. Steam’s official FAQ says “reward details will be shared closer to the global launch date”.

To catch any further date change early, three places are enough: the release date field on the Steam store page, the official global teaser site homepage, and NC’s official notice board. Nothing else will be earlier.

Not installed yet? See Steam or PURPLE. Want to know what the test actually covered? See the Launch Scale Test recap. Deciding whether to pay for five extra days? See the Founder’s Pack comparison.

Sources

• Steam store page (AION 2, app 3393110), release date field
• NC gamescom 2026 press release, August 25, 2026
• Gematsu, “AION 2 delayed to October 5 worldwide”, August 25, 2026
• Official global teaser site, aion2.ncsoft.jp
• Steam announcements “Launch Scale Test: Day 1” and “Steam Pre-release FAQ”