Legends of Aria Classic Launches on Steam Soon

In a departure from its 2019  free version, Citadel Studios’ Legends of Aria Classic is once again making a comeback by launching on May 9th via Steam. The game has undergone several overhauls, some rebranding, a pivot to ‘pay to earn’ with blockchain as a result of a studio acquisition, and a spinoff version for 2022 called ‘Classic’

According to the announcement, Legends of Aria Classic will represent the pre-Steam Early Access period of 2019. In an email announcement (spotted on the r/MMORPG subreddit), the team explained their decision.

“Early 2019 was a magical time for Legends of Aria. players had created some truly amazing player towns and houses, finely crafted with furniture and decorated with The Spoils of Adventure. we had a balanced flow of red vs. blue(and orange) , Which played out across our world. We watched large dungeon raids and faction battles explode into meteoric chaos. These are the experiences we wish to return to and Faithfully build upon with Legends of Aria Classic.”

Legends of Aria Classic Trailer

There has been skepticism toward the relaunch announcement due to the game’s long history. It will launch on May 9th via Steam with 30 days free and a monthly subscription afterward.

In early 2021, the Legends of Aria team announced that its next update would be indefinitely delayed due to a decrease in team size and a decrease in financial resources. At the end of 2021, the studio was acquired by Blue Monster, a blockchain game developer

As a result, NFTs were introduced, followed by the announcement that the game would fully transition to a ‘play-to-earn’ model. The version that had been running at the time was renamed Classic and a free-to-play version without blockchain was promised.

In mid-2022, Citadel opened a beta test for the blockchain game and announced they had dropped all free-to-play plans. Legends of Aria Classic, with 2019 rules, will be released on May 9, 2024, on Steam.