I’ve always acknowledged when a previous call was wrong, and am doing so with TERA 2 (which for the longest time, had turned into its own meme).
Krafton’s MMORPG subsidiary, Bluehole Studio has been greenlit for that rumored initial (and tiny) R&D group (this TERA 2 project was led by one of the original designers of TERA, Kang Sang-wook) to move forward with the development of TERA 2.
It seems that Krafton chairman Chang Byung-gyu (one of the original founders of Bluehole Studio as the company was originally known as before rebranding to Krafton and creating a studio subsidiary with the Bluehole Studio moniker) was partly instrumental in approving this since the original TERA plus the MMORPG genre, is something of an important piece of nostalgic history for him.
Job listings appeared on Krafton’s careers section (not even codenamed as they’ve done often times in the past) with 7 positions looking to be filled (at this time). From those descriptions, the engine will be UE5 while the game itself, will build on the legacy of the original including its non-targeted action combat.
Outside of that, my former colleague (who knows a few insiders) said they heard nothing about this as well beforehand. We’re guessing part of this is due to Krafton CEO CH Kim’s wild and unflattering testimony with Subnautica 2; the usual decision making would end with him but it seems the chairman’s desire to see something done in that MMORPG space was key.
IMHO, this still highlights the dysfunctional organization of Krafton as a whole. The fact that Kim hasn’t been terminated after his testifying to relying on ChatGPT for advice on Subnautica 2, says a lot (they are ok with someone who looked like a fool to continue running the company). But it does also lead to questions of how committed Krafton will be to this genre which they’ve really stopped investing in for several years now.
I guess one thing to pay attention to is their investor relation material (to see if they begin pushing MMORPG development again in that material).
Bluehole Studio (the MMORPG subsidiary studio) has only TERA Console; something that hasn’t been receiving any major new content besides tweaks to the console specific designs (its weapon, armor, and accessory systems were forked from what existed on the PC version). As I’ve written before, I’m surprised it is still in operation in 2026 (I know I shouldn’t be since this is KRAPTON after all).
Which brings things back to the complete shutdown of TERA PC back in 2022. If they knew back then they would be developing a TERA 2, I doubt they would have shut it down completely that way. It still represented the game that from a historical purpose, sustained the company until PUBG. As I noted before, this would’ve been like Nexon killing off the original Maplestory, Webzen killing MU, or NCsoft killing Lineage.
Myself, I don’t trust Krafton’s c-suite and their ability to make great decisions (without consulting AI — snark somewhat intended). Part of this TERA 2 project seems to be a “passion” project by one of the last few remaining veteran designers at the company who understands the ethos of that MMORPG genre from that late 2000’s through 2014 timeframe before the VC money shifted over to mobile development. Nonethless, this is years away from seeing the light of day.
Myself, I’m not expecting much (given how Elyon turned out from its original Ascent: Infinite Realm concepts and design and how it was shutdown quickly). Heck, I don’t know if I’ll still be interested or even alive by the time it launches.
