Aion developed by NCsoft has won various awards in all kinds of international game grand ceremonies since it was born. And the first beta test for EU/NA players has been announced to start on June 5th. In this special moment, MMOsite made an wonderful interview with Lani Blazier, Associate Producer on Aion, to tell you a more authentic Aion.

MMOsite: First, thank you for taking our interview. To start off, would you please briefly introduce yourself and your team to our readers? And how do you prepare for the western launch?

Lani Blazier: Thank you for inviting me to be interviewed. My name is Lani Blazier and I am the Associate Producer on Aion. A lot goes into bringing a game over to the West, especially if you want to do it right, that why one of our greatest efforts has been in the localization/culturalization process. We aren't simply doing a direct translation from Korean to English, French and German - it goes much deeper than that. We have a team of published fantasy writers who are spending a tremendous amount of time reworking the lore and dialogue so that it is culturally relevant to the Western market and making sure we provide a sense of familiarity to the user. Gameplay and all core mechanics will remain the same - it's important to us that the game stays true to the original designer's intent.

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MMOsite: What about Aion's performance in the territories like South Korea and China? Do they meet your expectations?

Lani Blazier: I think we can easily say that Aion has met our expectations in Korea and China. Within days of its release, Aion rapidly became the most popular MMO in Korea, a high-competitive and MMO-fanatical market, with hundreds of thousands of concurrent Aion users every day. And in China, our partner Shanda announced over a million paying Aion customers within the first week. In just a short period, Aion has become one of the most popular MMOs in the world, and continues to grow. So yes, Aion has met our expectations!

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MMOsite: According to our experience, highly anticipated MMOGs will usually first be tested and published in the western market, but Aion is an exception. What's the reason behind?

Lani Blazier: The game was developed in Korea so it seemed natural to release it there first. We also didn't want to rush its release in the West. It was important to us that enough time was allocated to the localization process.

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