According to NCsoft, Aion: The Tower of Eternity has broken beta test records to become the most popular beta event in Korean history.

Since Tuesday's launch of open beta testing in Korea, concurrent user numbers have already jumped to more than 170,000 players, making it the most popular beta event in Korean history. According to NCsoft officials, more than 11,000 people were logged into the game after only two minutes of open beta service. In less than an hour, that number had ballooned to 40,000. Currently the number of concurrent players has leapt up to more than 170,000.

Aion is scheduled to launch in Korea within the year. Launches in China, North America, Europe and Japan are planned for 2009. The full announcement can be found here or after the jump.

SEOUL, Korea, Nov. 14, 2008 —One of the most highly anticipated massively multiplayer online (MMO) games, Aion®: The Tower of Eternity ™ from NCsoft ®, is already showing signs of reaching hit status in only a matter of days since open beta testing kicked off earlier this week. Aion is scheduled to launch in Korea within the year and launches in China, North America, Europe and Japan are planned for 2009.

Since Tuesday's launch of open beta testing in Korea, concurrent user numbers have already jumped to more than 170,000 players, making it the most popular beta event in Korean history. According to NCsoft officials, more than 11,000 people were logged into the game after only two minutes of open beta service. In less than an hour, that number had ballooned to 40,000. Currently the number of concurrent players has leapt up to more than 170,000.

To meet the unprecedented demand by gamers, NCsoft rapidly expanded to 25 servers over the first few hours of opening the beta. Even with the increased number of servers, tens of thousands of people were waiting to enter the game. By the second day of open beta, the game reached the top spot in Korea's Gametrics web site that rates games that are played in Korea's PC Café industry.

Aion is an epic fantasy MMO that combines an eastern-style focus on visuals and design with western action-oriented gameplay. In Aion , players must fight to save a beautiful and vibrant world ripped asunder by a celestial war; during their adventures, players will ascend to divinity and earn the ability to fly. Flight adds a fun and strategic dimension to the gameplay of Aion and is integral to combat, exploration, harvesting and more.

"The response we're seeing in Korea is incredibly exciting," said David Reid, president of publishing for NCsoft West in Seattle. "Our Aion community in North America and Europe is also rapidly growing. We've got aggressive plans for the western launch in 2009".

For more information on Aion , go to http://www.aiononline.com.