Kakao Games Q2 2023 Investor Call Confirms ArcheAge 2 For Second Half Of 2024

Kakao as a whole has seen significant growth this year but its gaming arm, Kakao Games, failed to pull its own weight. According to the Kakao’s Q2 2023 financial report, Kakao Games saw a 20% decline in revenue this past quarter due to a number of factors including weak revenue from Battlegrounds, stabilization of existing titles, and the “rebound from full-quarter recognition of ArcheAge War.”

During the accompanying investor call, the company also talked up future releases, namely ArcheAge 2 and Ares: Rise of Guardians.

Kakao Games has narrowed down ArcheAge 2’s launch window from sometime in 2024 to the second half of the year. The studio also confirmed that the Unreal Engine 5-powered sequel will be launching on both PC and consoles. The MMO community, however, isn’t too stoked that the game will apparently put more emphasis on solo play and single-player story development.

As for Ares: Rise of Guardians, the self-described blockbuster MMORPG launched in South Korea last week and has been confirmed for a global launch in the future. Dates, publishers, and which regions the game will be launching in have yet to be revealed, although Kakao did hint at how they plan to monetize the game. They’ll apparently be employing a monetization system that “reduces compulsory initial billing” with microtransactions that will be added once “many users” have settled into the game.