The global version of AION 2 runs on two launchers, Steam and PURPLE, but characters belong to an NC account. Most account questions at launch come down to which NC account a character was created on and which Steam account is linked to it. This page follows NCsoft's launch FAQ, its global notices and its global support FAQ as revised up to October 7, 2026.
Do You Need to Link?
No, not to play on Steam alone. A Steam player does not need a PURPLE account. Linking matters only if you want to reach the same character and progress through both launchers. The in-game content is the same on Steam and PURPLE, and players from both share the same servers. Progress from the Korean or Taiwanese service does not carry over to the global version, and the global service is not available in Korea or Taiwan; see Global Launch and Platforms.
Moving a Character Between Launchers
Situation | What to Do |
|---|---|
Character created through Steam, playing on PURPLE | Download and start PURPLE, choose the Steam login option and sign in with the same Steam account. Launch AION 2 and the character is there; no new character is needed. |
Character created through PURPLE after signing in with Steam | Launch AION 2 through Steam with the same Steam account. |
Character created through PURPLE with an NC account or another login | Link the Steam account to that NC account first: sign in on the official NC website, open My Page, choose Account Linking and follow the steps for Steam. After that, AION 2 launched through Steam reaches the same character. |
Linking and Unlinking Steam
Both are done from the AION 2 page of the PURPLE website. Sign in with the button at the top right, open login management and then Account, and on the Manage Login page choose Link next to Steam to connect a Steam account to an existing NC account, or Disconnect to remove it. Once linked, the Steam service icon can be used to log in. After disconnecting, the NC account can be linked to a different Steam account.
Character Missing After Relinking
A character and its game data stay with the NC account that was in use when the character was created. Unlinking Steam from that NC account and linking the same Steam account to a different NC account does not move the character, which is why it can seem to disappear. NCsoft's fix is to reconnect Steam to the original NC account: log in to that account with another login method that was linked to it, go to the Manage Login page and connect the Steam account. If that Steam account is already linked to an unwanted NC account, sign in to the unwanted account through Steam, add a different login method to it, log out, log back in with that method and unlink Steam there, then repeat the first steps.
Account Conflicts
An NC account and a PLAYNC account are separate accounts. When both are registered with the same email address, an account conflict can block sign-in on the PLAYNC website or in PURPLE. The sign-in error links to a page that checks for conflicts by email; if one exists, the fix is to change the email address on the NC account, which needs that account's password. An NC account's name or email address can only be changed once every 90 days.
Viewer Drops
Rewards from watching AION 2 livestreams go to the PlayNC account that the viewer's streaming account is linked to. To receive them on the right account, log in with the same method used for the game, Steam or PlayNC, before linking the streaming account. The current link status is shown under My Page, Manage Login on the official NC website. See Launch Events.
NCsoft's viewer drop linking guide of October 2, 2026 is stricter: link the streaming account to the account you actually play on, the Steam account if you play through Steam or the NC account if you play through PURPLE. If rewards do not arrive, do not separately link the account on the NC website, because that can undo the existing connection and leave you unable to reach your character.
Known Linking Problems
On October 1, 2026 NCsoft said some players were running into account-linking problems during Advance Access and that it was looking into them. The support FAQ also covers the launch error that reads Failed to reset Steam account linking (code 1138:100134): run Steam as an administrator and launch the game again, and contact customer support if it persists. More launch issues are on Known Issues.
PURPLE Region Setting
NCsoft's notice of September 30, 2026 says AION 2 may not appear in the PURPLE game list for players in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. The fix is to open PURPLE, check the region setting, change it from the local country to Global, confirm that AION 2 now appears, and restart PURPLE if it does not.
Signing In on the Korean Service
The Korean and Taiwanese service handles accounts differently, and none of the following applies to the global build. The official Korean guidebook says players choose a country on first launch and can sign in with seven account types: PLAYNC, a phone number, Google, Facebook, Apple, X and LINE. A security service registered to the player's own mobile phone is required for personal trading and the Market there, and is set up from the security settings in the bottom left of the launcher screen. Each Korean server shows its congestion before you join, the character screen has up to eight character slots, renaming costs a Name Change Voucher, and a deleted character has a seven-day window in which the deletion can be cancelled.
The Korean guidebook also describes PURPLE On, a streaming service that lets a player see and control a game running on their PC from the PURPLE mobile app or a web browser, after registering PURPLE's security service on the PC. NCsoft has not said whether it applies to the global service.