How to Play AION 2 in China & Restricted Regions

Updated 2026-10-20 · Global release (Season 1) · launch-window meta, subject to patches

How to Play AION 2 in China & Restricted Regions

AION 2 Global is free‑to‑play on Steam and PURPLE, but the Steam package cannot be activated in 18 countries/regions at launch. If you're in one of them, the store hides the game or says "This item is currently unavailable in your region," and you can't activate the license or buy the Founder's Packs.

The restricted list at launch (Steam package)

The same restriction applies to all three Founder's Packs, and cross‑region gifting/trading is disabled for these packages on SteamDB.

Why? NC has only publicly said it is reviewing local regulatory requirements (notably for Belgium and the Netherlands, often associated with randomized‑monetization rules). Korea and Taiwan are restricted from the Global Steam package because they have their own live services. NC has not given an official reason for China/Hong Kong/Macau — treat it as a licensing/distribution decision, not something you can "fix" with a setting.

Why just flipping a VPN on Steam is a bad idea

• Steam's store country, package activation rules, payment method and service eligibility are separate gates. Changing your IP does not change the region of an existing account, and activating a restricted package by misrepresenting your region can get the account or license locked — NC also ran account‑restriction/ban waves shortly after launch (11–17 Oct 2026).
• PURPLE is not a guaranteed bypass: if the restriction sits on the underlying service for your account region, simply using the other launcher won't grant access. NC explicitly warns that changing installers doesn't change service eligibility.
• Grey‑market "global accounts" and shared/resold accounts are the single most common way people lose access permanently. Don't pay for someone else's account.

Legitimate routes

Route A — Taiwan official service (best for most players in mainland China / HK / Macau / Taiwan)

Taiwan is NC's official, live Traditional‑Chinese service since 19 Nov 2025, on PURPLE (PC) plus Android/iOS. This is the normal route Chinese‑speaking players use — no region‑evasion required, it is the intended service for the area.

1. Go to the official Taiwan site (tw.ncsoft.com → AION 2) and download the PURPLE PC installer from the official download page. (Avoid third‑party mirrors.)
2. Register an NC (plaync) account: choose the NC email method (a normal email — many mainland players use a QQ mailbox — works), and set your account region to Taiwan / 中国台湾 during registration where prompted. Use an adult birth date.
3. Optionally bind a phone and set a payment password in the account wallet after login.
4. Log into PURPLE (a game accelerator/VPN makes login and patching more stable from the mainland; it's often slow without one), open STORE, choose AION 2, and install — reserve 100 GB, ideally on an SSD.
5. Topping up (official wallet): Taiwan's wallet currency is commonly called "Coin". On the official top‑up page, mainland players typically choose electronic/mobile payment — Alipay and WeChat Pay are accepted (community reports note Alipay carries roughly a 3% fee and WeChat around 10%; expect identity/phone prompts). Always top up through the official NC wallet inside your own account, never via a third party "代充" (agent top‑up) service — those are a leading cause of bans and stolen accounts.

Taiwan gives you Traditional Chinese text/announcements, PC and mobile, and a mature economy — but it is a separate service from Global, with its own events, shop and schedule, and no transfer to Global.

Route B — Korea official service

Same structure via PURPLE with a Korean NC account. Choose it only if you have a guild/friends there or read Korean; registration and payment are more demanding for foreigners.

Route C — Global service from a supported region

The Global PC service (Steam/PURPLE, English/JP/etc., servers in NA/SA/Europe/Japan) is intended for players in supported regions, normally requiring a genuinely resident account and local payment method. NC's post‑launch restriction waves show it actively enforces regional and security rules, so treat "make a foreign Steam account + VPN" as against the terms and at real risk of losing the account — not something this guide recommends for money or time you care about. If you are genuinely relocating/travelling, follow Steam's and NC's official region‑change/verification process rather than a workaround.

Ping and connectivity

• Whichever official service you pick, a reputable game accelerator materially improves login, patch download and in‑game ping/loss from mainland China; pick a node matching your service (Taiwan for TW, Japan for Global‑Japan).
• Global's closest server region to East Asia is Japan; test it yourself.
• Verify in the accelerator that it supports the exact service + platform (TW PURPLE vs Global Steam/PURPLE).

Decision cheat‑sheet

Keep your account safe

• Register with your own email and phone; never buy/share accounts.
• Only pay through the official in‑account wallet/Steam.
• If you get a "temporarily restricted" notice, it may be a security lock rather than a ban — use NC's official account recovery/appeal and enable the official authenticator/2FA.
• Screenshots, prices and exact registration fields change; follow the current official Taiwan/Global pages, not an old video.

Related: servers & factions · monetization

This guide is based on the global release as of October 2026. AION 2 is receiving frequent balance patches, so details may change. Unofficial fan guide, not affiliated with NCSoft.

This guide is based on the global release as of October 2026. AION 2 is receiving frequent balance patches, so meta may change. Unofficial fan guide, not affiliated with NCSoft.