[Monthly GC] Global Launch of Aion 2: What Do the Streaming Metrics Say? (See You in Bangkok & Busan)
Updated: Oct 26
Kim Junghyun | GC Content | 2026-10-16 06:05
Hello, this is Junghyun Kim from GC US.
I heard the weather in Korea has suddenly turned quite cold. It seemed like autumn just arrived, yet some people are already pulling out their winter coats. Please take care during the seasonal transition and stay warm.
AI Training Data: Buying and Selling
A while ago, I received an email from a company called Polyshares. I'm not entirely sure if it was genuinely from them, but the content was quite intriguing. In summary, it was an offer to "buy AI training data for $200K to $10M." Old support tickets, internal processes, training materials, past project records — they wanted to buy the kind of data that naturally accumulates through everyday business operations.
"We pay businesses $200K to $10M+ for approved data packages that help us train AI to do real business tasks. Would you like to see if GGContent qualifies?"
I was skeptical at first, but it turns out a market for buying and selling AI training data actually exists. As it happens, the US budget airline Spirit Airlines went bankrupt this year. According to recent news, Google purchased the company's internal data for $10 million (approximately 14 billion KRW). Around 100 million emails, about 500 million Microsoft Teams messages, OneDrive files — essentially Spirit's entire digital footprint. The purpose was, of course, AI model training.
Neither Spirit Airlines nor its employees could have imagined that their communications would become 'secondhand data' to be sold like this. We've entered an era where internal corporate communications become textbooks for teaching AI.
It made me wonder: is GC's decade-long accumulation of global influencer data being valued as valuable data somewhere out there? Well, our data will only be used for our own ContentFlux, of course.
Source: Google buys data from bankrupt Spirit Airlines for AI training
Halloween Highlights
It's been a while since skeletons and ghosts started appearing one by one along the neighborhood walking paths. This year, Halloween falls on a Saturday. The neighborhood is sure to be lively.
But where do American kids go trick-or-treating on Halloween? When I used to live in Sunnyvale, our family once went to Steve Jobs' house in Palo Alto to shout 'Trick or Treat.' Even after Steve Jobs passed away, his family continued living in the Palo Alto house and held Halloween events every year. You had to wait in line for over two hours to receive treats there, but the entire surrounding neighborhood was decorated for Halloween, so it was quite fun browsing the decorations at each house while waiting in line.
Twitch's Halloween Event: Stream-O-Ween 2026
This isn't gaming news, but it's fun so I wanted to share. Twitch runs a month-long event every October called Stream-O-Ween, where creators across various categories — from horror games to art, costumes, cooking, and Just Chatting — broadcast with a Halloween theme. This time, new Halloween-themed Hype Train emotes were revealed, and participating creators can also receive special drop campaigns. It was interesting to see how well the platform integrates seasonal events.
Global News — Global Launch of Aion 2: What Do the Streaming Metrics Say?
This week, the ContentFlux special feature with This Is Game has been published. We're sharing it once again through our newsletter.
Today's spotlight is on Aion 2. Following its launch in Korea and Taiwan last year, we examined how this game — now challenging the global market through Steam — has been received in the streaming landscape.
YouTube & Twitch Rising Together: English-Speaking Dominance Amid Multinational Viewership
According to the ContentFlux Top 100 chart, which aggregates global streaming metrics, Aion 2 showed an upward trend across global streaming platforms.
In the first week data was aggregated — Week 5 of September (September 28 – October 4) — Aion 2 entered at #77 on YouTube's weekly cumulative views chart, recording over 16.7 million cumulative views. On Twitch, it climbed 82 spots to #11, with over 1.1 million weekly cumulative concurrent viewers. On the domestic platform Chzzk, it dropped 2 spots from the previous week to #42 (peak concurrent viewers over 8,700), while on Soop, it rose 2 spots to #13 (peak concurrent viewers over 9,200).
In the following Week 1 of October (October 5 – 11), YouTube rose 25 spots from the previous week to #52, achieving over 23.3 million views. Twitch also climbed 4 spots to settle at #7, recording over 1.9 million weekly cumulative concurrent viewers. Meanwhile, Chzzk dropped 3 spots to #45 (peak concurrent viewers over 8,800), and Soop fell 2 spots to #15 (peak concurrent viewers over 9,400).
Analyzing the global viewer distribution on YouTube over the most recent 16 days (September 27 – October 12, 2026), the US (31.3%) accounted for the highest share of peak viewers, followed by Korea (21.7%), Brazil (9.7%), Spain (9.5%), Japan (7.1%), Germany (6.2%), Russia (4.0%), France (3.7%), and Canada (3.5%).
In terms of video creation share, the US (11.6%) also ranked first, followed by Brazil (10.4%), Korea (9.9%), Japan (6.0%), Indonesia (5.1%), Russia (3.9%), France (3.5%), Germany (3.5%), and Thailand (3.3%).
Looking at the daily view trends, the daily cumulative views peaked at approximately 12 million or more on September 30, the highest during the tracking period. Although it declined somewhat afterward, it rebounded to around 10 million by October 7.
Analyzing language-based data on Twitch, English (48.9%) accounted for the highest share of peak concurrent viewers, followed by Japanese (10.1%), German (9.6%), Russian (8.6%), Spanish (7.1%), Portuguese (6.9%), French (5.1%), Polish (2.6%), and Italian (0.6%).
In terms of streaming broadcast share, English (35.7%) also recorded the highest proportion, followed by Russian (15.7%), Portuguese (10.7%), German (8.7%), French (7.1%), Spanish (6.3%), Japanese (5.6%), Polish (2.6%), and Turkish (2.5%).
In the daily viewer trends, the peak concurrent viewers reached 41,700 on September 29 — the highest daily peak during the tracking period — before stabilizing in the 20,000–30,000 range.
Graphics and Customization Praised, Monetization Model Raises Concerns
Next, we examined user sentiment toward the new title through global creators' gameplay videos and viewer feedback.
First, the major US gaming channel 'Asmongold TV' with 4.71 million subscribers showcased Aion 2 sponsored content on October 7. The video covered the entire early gameplay experience in detail, from character customization to combat, quest progression, skill upgrades, item enhancement, open-world exploration, and the flight system.
Asmongold gave positive reviews for the excellent graphics, open-world exploration, flight system, and endgame content, but noted the complex in-game interface and functional inconveniences as drawbacks.
Analyzing the sentiment of YouTube comments on the video, negative reactions accounted for the highest proportion at 39%, followed by neutral at 34% and positive at 27%. Negative comments primarily expressed concerns about the monetization model structure and dissatisfaction with content access time and frequency limitations.
Subsequently, the major Spanish channel 'Rubius Z' with 14.9 million subscribers also released Aion 2 gameplay video content on October 7. Rubius extensively experienced the game starting with detailed customization of character appearance, body proportions, and voice, followed by open-world exploration, dungeon entry and boss battles, and the in-game economy system.
He expressed high satisfaction with the detailed customization, stunning graphics, physics engine effects, and boss battle strategies combining evasion and attacks. However, some pet and mount designs, difficult boss attack patterns, and high shop item prices were noted as drawbacks.
In the sentiment analysis of viewer comments on the video, neutral reactions comprised the majority at 54%, followed by positive at 30% and negative at 16%.
Having launched first in Korea and Taiwan, Aion 2 is challenging the global market with game mechanics familiar to existing users. The detailed character customization and stunning graphics received positive reviews from international users as well, but concerns were raised about some systems, including the monetization model.
Since the global official launch, concurrent player trends and streaming metrics demonstrate interest from international markets. Whether it can address the raised concerns and sustain global user interest will be worth watching going forward.
Source: Global Launch of Aion 2: What Do the Game Streaming Metrics Say?
ContentFlux Begins Serialization on Japan's Game8
ContentFlux has begun serialization on Game8, one of Japan's leading major game guide and comprehensive information websites.
First article: Netflixで3,110万再生『GTA 6』、1本のトレーラーだけで揺れたストリーミング市場
Weekly ContentFlux series in collaboration with This Is Game:
• Global Launch of Aion 2: What Do the Game Streaming Metrics Say? (Article)
• Silent Hill Series New Entry 'Townfall': What's the Streaming Response? (Article)
• 40 Million Pre-Registrations for 'Animo': Early Launch Response Through Streaming Data (Article)
• 'Wardox' Sells 2 Million Copies in 5 Days: Early Launch Response Through Streaming Data (Article)
Gamescom Asia & G-STAR: Hope to See You There
I will be attending Gamescom Asia × Thailand Game Show 2026, taking place in Bangkok, Thailand from October 29 to November 1. If anyone plans to attend, please do reach out — I'd love to say hello.
After the event, I plan to head to Korea and stay through the G-STAR period. It seems like fewer people around me are going to G-STAR compared to previous years, but we'll be running a booth at Hall 2, G601, so if you're attending G-STAR, please make sure to stop by!
It may be a bit early, but as we head toward year-end, I look forward to the opportunity to meet in person and have a conversation.
Thank you.
This article is excerpted from GC Content's monthly newsletter [Monthly GC]. GC Content Website
