XLGAMES has been published letterworking on the upcoming multiplayer role-playing game ArcheAge Chronicles, has officially confirmed that the project will transition to self-publishing. Developers will no longer rely on third-party publishers in Western markets, and communication with players will be more direct. An early access version will be released later this year, but a specific date has not yet been revealed.
The decision to self-publish means that XLGAMES will work directly with the Western community. In the near future, the author promises to talk more frequently about the game’s production progress and plans. The team’s new resident representative will be Global Producer Don. He will distribute development materials and act as a liaison between the studio and players.
The first online test of “Chronicles of the Ancient Age” will be held on September 12 and is expected to last approximately 6 hours. Since it was only held in North America, many people who wanted to attend were unable to. The main purpose of testing is to evaluate the server infrastructure under load. According to executive producer Ham, servers and core systems have remained stable even with more concurrent players than originally planned. Despite the limited content available, the average gameplay time is about an hour and a half.
The developers continue to study feedback from the community, Discord channels, and surveys. Internally, the studio is already working on resolving black screen issues, improving the group interface, and ways to handle players who disrupt other participants. The team also continues to improve the combat system, balance and performance.
XLGAMES acknowledges that beta versions contain temporary elements used during development. They will not appear in the official release and will enhance the internal testing of the component. The studio also talks about the gender-bound class system. It will remain unchanged during Early Access release. The developers hope to add the ability to choose your character’s gender in the future, but for now they’re focused on finalizing the combat system and class design.