Trion Worlds

Trion Worlds was an American game publisher and developer co-founded in 2006 by Lars Buttler and Jon Van Caneghem, both formerly of NCSoft. Headquartered in Redwood City, California, the company raised approximately $185 million in total funding from investors including Time Warner Investments, Comcast Ventures, and Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments. Trion brought ArcheAge to Western markets in September 2014, developed the MMORPG Rift and the voxel game Trove, and was acquired by Gamigo on October 22, 2018.

Company history

Buttler and Van Caneghem founded Trion with the vision of creating a platform for multiple online games. The studio's first release was Rift (2011), an MMORPG that competed directly with World of Warcraft and launched to positive reviews. Trove, a voxel-based sandbox game, followed. At its peak, Trion employed several hundred people.

ArcheAge publishing

Trion's ArcheAge launch in September 2014 was immediately troubled. DDoS attacks hit servers during headstart, Patron subscribers faced two-hour queues, and all desirable housing land was claimed before the general public could access the game. Trion compensated players with an extra month of patron time.

Over the following years, Trion progressively added power-relevant items to the cash shop despite the game being marketed as free-to-play without pay-to-win elements. The Thunderstruck tree controversy, the APEX exploit, and ongoing monetization complaints eroded player trust. CEO Scott Hartsman's denial of the APEX duplication bug before later acknowledging it became a touchstone moment for the community.

Class action lawsuit

In 2015, three players filed a class action lawsuit against Trion, alleging false advertising of a 10% founder perk cash shop discount. Trion had instead offered a 10% bonus on credit pack purchases, a different mechanic. The lawsuit also cited violations of California consumer protection law and California's illegal-lottery law regarding loot boxes.

The case dragged through years of arbitration. Trion's collapse in 2018 complicated proceedings. In January 2020, a settlement of $420,000 was reached with Gamigo (as Trion's successor). Payments were distributed to eligible players in August 2020.

Collapse and Gamigo acquisition

By 2018, Trion had burned through most of its $185 million in funding. Rather than filing for federal bankruptcy, the company used an Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors (ABC), a California state-law process that allowed orderly asset liquidation. German publisher Gamigo acquired the majority of Trion's assets on October 22, 2018. Staff were laid off on October 26, 2018, and the Trion Worlds brand ceased to exist. Gamigo continued publishing ArcheAge until Kakao Games took over in November 2021.