Rift developers Trion have signed a deal with XL Games to publish ArcheAge, the MMO follow-up to Lineage currently in beta in South Korea. ArcheAge will be released in North America, Europe, Turkey, Australia, and New Zealand.
The release comes via Trion’s Red Door publishing platform, which will also play host to Crytek’s Warface later this year. Fascinatingly, XL Games have countered the (apparently, oft-discussed) oceans-wide gulf between Eastern and Western tastes in the simplest of ways. They’ve made two continents – one for the Westerners (Nuia), one for the Easterners (Harihara), each with their attendant art style.
“We’re thrilled to be working with Trion Worlds, a company who is setting a new standard for gaming by embracing original, high-quality [games] on a dynamic connected platform,” said Jake Song, CEO of XL Games, in a VentureBeat interview. Song is ArcheAge’s ‘creator’, insofar as one man can create an MMO.
He continued: “We are impressed with Trion’s track record as they have consistently delivered against an unwavering vision; we are confident partnering with Trion will help bring ArcheAge the success it deserves.”
“It’s all you expect from a triple-A game,” said Trion CEO Lars Buttler. “In this category, you have to see World of Warcraft as competition.”
Even Trion’s huge 500-staff plate must be near-overflowing beneath their current projects. In the next few months, ArcheAge, Defiance and Rift China will all move into their respective betas. And then there’s the troubled End of Nations, development of which moved in-house last year.
“It will take longer, but it was the right decision to bring it in-house and polish it more,” said Buttler.
End of Nations is on the backburner, then, and Trion’s nearer future is dedicated to ArcheAge. Here’s a trailer:
What do you think?