This morning, Korean publisher Kakao Games shared its updated release schedule during the Q4 2025 earnings report, including two highly anticipated MMORPGs: ArcheAge Chronicles and Chrono Odyssey.
Both games have already been delayed; they were originally slated for 2025, but got pushed to 2026. Now, Chrono Odyssey has been moved even further away, to Q1 2027, whereas Archeage Chronicles is still holding fast to its Q4 2026 window. This is slightly surprising, because ArcheAge Chronicles still hasn't hosted any Closed Beta Tests in Western countries, yet Kakao Games is confident it will debut globally before the end of this year.
The game was announced as ArcheAge 2 in November 2022. However, developer XL Games (a subsidiary of Kakao following the $100 million acquisition made in February 2020) revealed nearly two years later that they had decided to rework the project from a straight MMORPG sequel of the "sandpark" ArcheAge to a more intimate online action RPG experience. Hence, the title change. XL Games is also attempting to reach a wider global audience by focusing more on PvE (Player-versus-Environment) content, whereas the previous installment featured prominent large scale PvP features.
In an exclusive Wccftech interview we published last August, XL Games revealed that those territorial conquest features were completely removed from ArcheAge Chronicles because they didn't translate well to the action combat system and new direction. PvP is now structured, opt-in, and controlled through formats such as arenas, battlegrounds, and zone-based competitive events. Trade runs remain, but the scale and mechanics have changed, although they can still be done solo or with others.
Housing supports shared spaces and neighborhoods where players can live alongside each other, but the focus shifted from territorial ownership toward personal expression and meaningful community-building, partly to avoid the land rush issues that were common in the first ArcheAge.
Endgame is now PvE-driven, focused on exploration, challenge, and meaningful progression. Instanced PvE experiences are built around teams of two to five players instead of large raid groups. Endgame includes dungeons with narrative-driven experiences, as well as crafting, trading, life skills, housing, and exploration. Overall, ArcheAge Chronicles aims to respect player time with flexible playstyles that don't feel like a second job, which was admittedly an issue in the previous title.
As for the other MMORPG in Kakao's schedule, Chrono Odyssey, the game already hosted a limited-time Steam Closed Beta Test in June. However, its reception was mixed, leading the developer, Chrono Studio, to revamp nearly every aspect of the MMORPG. That's the main reason behind the new delay. Both games will be released on PC and consoles, by the way, presumably with cross-play functionality.
In the Kakao Games earnings call, an executive explained the reasons behind the games' long development timelines:
Regarding ArcheAge Chronicles and Chrono Odyssey, our overarching approach is to further enhance the completeness of the game build. In the process of conducting the test and going through the optimization process, we wanted to make sure that we fully reflect all the enhancements that is required. So once again, we made certain adjustments because we wanted to further expand on the validating of the development. So through these efforts, basically the timeline has been adjusted so that we could minimize the operational risk as much as possible.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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