Last week’s news about Astellia Online’s impending shutdown in its native Korea likely put a lot of fans on edge, especially since we’ve seen these events play out before. However, the team behind Astellia’s western release wants fans to know that things are going to press on independent of what occurs in Korea.
One of the game’s community managers posted on the official forums to reaffirm the team’s plans and remind folks that it’s being handled by Barunson, not Nexon. “We’d like to take a moment to reassure our community, that the publisher for Korean region and the North American / European regions are independent, and will continue to service Astellia without interruption,” assures the post.
Not only does Barunson apparently want to keep going with Astellia, but it also wants to perhaps become a haven for displaced Korean players. “Bringing them aboard would provide players with access to a wealth of Astellia knowledge, increase overall player activity on servers, reduce dungeon queue times, and strengthen the level of competition within Avalon,” the CM reasons.
When the news broke last week, we speculated that the sunset overseas may have more to do with Nexon’s ongoing restructure and turmoil following its ownership’s failure to sell its shares earlier this year – turmoil that’s so far included game cancellations, studio closures, and protests from the workforce’s union. Barunson does appear to confirm that hunch, suggesting that “the publisher for this region is undergoing a process of restructuring” that’s brought about the closure of Nexon’s Korean servers.
