NCsoft positions Aion as World of Warcraft's chief rival

NCsoft is getting hyped for Aion's North American launch later this September 22nd, and they're not afraid to show it.  Buoyed by no less than a 451 percent increase in profit for its second fiscal quarter, NCsoft believes it is better positioned than ever to show Blizzard's World of Warcraft what it's made of with Aion, currently in beta testing on our shores.  Aion is already online across Asian countries outside of South Korea like China and Japan, and the MMORPG proved to be responsible for a sizable chunk of NCsoft's quarterly earnings.

NCsoft hopes to secure similar success for Aion in North America and Europe once it launches, but WoW has not yet been weakened by other MMOs.  Despite the resistance initially displayed by competitors like Age of Conan and Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, their respective userbases gradually subsided and have since failed to penetrate WoW's super armor.

To be sure, NCsoft isn't expecting Aion to dethrone WoW, but it certainly believes it has the stones to be the "second most successful MMO in the US market next to World of Warcraft."  Unfortunately, the troubled history behind their previous MMO effort, Tabula Rasa, still lingers over NCsoft.  Company CFO Jaeho Lee concedes Tabula Rasa wasn't their finest hour, and the joint project with Richard "Lord British" Garriot (who has since left NCsoft amidst legal wrangling) threatened to leave a bad taste with retailers, who may be more reluctant to push NCsoft's offerings this time around.

Only beautiful people are allowed in NCsoft games.