Com2uS will officially launch its new MMORPG, 'Zeus: God of Insolence,' on August 26 at 12:00 PM. It is the first title from AButton, a studio led by CEO Kim Dae-hwon, formerly a vice president at Nexon.

Com2uS held a showcase on the 7th to reveal the launch date, core content, monetization policy, and operational direction. Character name pre-registration begins on August 13 at 8:00 PM.

'Zeus: God of Insolence' is an Unreal Engine 5-based MMORPG set in a Greek mythological world fractured by the arrogance of the supreme god, Zeus. The game's worldview centers on the relationship between gods, who bestow oracles upon humans, and humans, who offer tributes to the gods. Actress Park Ji-hyun provided the facial and voice acting for the central character, Pandora.

There are eight classes in total, divided into four categories: Warrior, Rogue, Mage, and Paragon, with two specializations each. Warriors are split into 'Knights,' who protect allies with shields, and 'Berserkers,' who penetrate enemy lines with greatswords. Rogues include 'Assassins,' who neutralize enemies with dual blades and stealth, and 'Rangers,' who control the battlefield from a distance with bows. Mages are divided into 'Elementalists,' who wield ice and fire, and 'Oracles,' who heal allies with the light of an orb. Paragons consist of 'Blesseds,' who carry maces and shields, and 'Artisans,' an economy-focused class. Each class is assigned a Greek god as its patron deity to match its concept.

The Artisan, responsible for growth paths outside of combat, is not a separate category but a specialization option for the Paragon class. They grow through gathering, crafting, and trading, and provide items for combat classes to the market using exclusive crafting skills and drop-rate buffs.

The development team has highlighted three key pillars: graphic quality, convenience, and 'competition for everyone.'

Kim Dae-hwon, CEO of AButton, diagnosed the situation by saying, "The essence of a MMORPG is competition, but as it has become overly intense, the fun of that competition has become distorted. The entrenchment of top-tier players has made it difficult for new players to enter, and the gap between growth and spending has widened. As a result, competition has become something only a tiny minority can enjoy." He explained the background of the development by adding, "I asked myself if it was possible to create a competitive MMORPG that everyone can enjoy."

The answer is the AI-replicated character, 'Persona.' The concept is to have players face AI that reflects the appearance and combat abilities of real users, reducing the burden of PvP while retaining the competitive experience. This is applied to the 1v1 'Colosseum' and the group battle 'Arcadia Festival.' Director Jung Seong-hoon stated, "Existing end-game content was structured around top-tier monopolies, leaving many users alienated from the experience. The Arcadia Festival is end-game content that everyone can enjoy." He added, however, that infinite competition content, such as field boss battles, has also been included for those aiming for the top.

Convenience is implemented through an 'AI Mode' that allows hunting and growth to continue even while offline. Players can designate hunting grounds and coordinates by time slot, and the game automatically resumes after server maintenance. During AI Mode, players can still manage key activities such as crafting, enhancement, and trading. A 'Conscription' feature has also been added, allowing guild members to summon offline characters to fight alongside them. Director Jung stated, "We aimed to create the most advanced form of offline mode currently in existence."

When asked if this meant everything was automated, the team responded that core content was designed for manual play. Field events like 'Abyss Rift' and 'Wave of Disaster,' as well as seasonal competitive content 'Odysseia,' provide advantages when played manually.

The economy is built on two pillars: the 'Integrated Market' linking three servers and the Artisan class. The 'Midas Vault,' which injects and withdraws diamonds through item purchases and sales, serves as a stabilizer for the in-game economy.

Regarding monetization, Com2uS Business Director Kim Jung-hoon stated, "All components included in paid products will also be obtainable through gameplay. We will clearly distinguish and maintain play areas that cannot be accessed through spending." Summons are composed of costumes and mounts, with a "pity" system applied across six grades from Normal to Mythic.

The ₩9900 monthly membership offers benefits including 24-hour AI Mode support, automatic execution after maintenance, personal trading support, increased usage time for specific dungeons, and an increased drop rate for tradable 'Orichalcum.' Director Kim explained, "The business model for Zeus is part of the gameplay, serving as a tool to reduce time and effort."

Countermeasures against workshops are divided into proactive and reactive measures. The game imposes growth hurdles and requires identity verification to use the Market, while AI-based real-time anomaly detection and 24-hour monitoring are used to sanction accounts. For streamers, the game separates the economy and play environment by grouping them into six out of the 30 total servers. Fifty creators will be selected for the 'Arche Creator' program for new content creators.

An update roadmap was also unveiled. Guild Raids and the Midas Vault open in the first week, the Colosseum in the second week, and the inter-server space, Arcadia Field, within a month. Subsequently, Arcadia Occupation Wars and Siege Wars will be applied after one month, the Arcadia Festival and Fortress Wars after two months, new growth fields and Arcadia bosses after three months, and new classes and the first class change after four months. The plan is to add new classes and fields every four months thereafter.

Nam Jae-kwan, CEO of Com2uS, said, "We felt that flashy graphics or the sheer scale of content alone were not enough. We have long asked ourselves what kind of MMORPG would be enjoyed and remembered for a long time, and the answer we found was a MMORPG for everyone."

The following is the Q&A session from the event.

What specifically is the 'competitive MMORPG for everyone' that 'Zeus: God of Insolence' aims for.

AButton Director Jung Seong-hoon = When designing game content, one inevitably considers the range of users who will enjoy it. In this genre, content is generally provided primarily for top-tier users. Often, top-tier users consume all the content before it trickles down, or it never trickles down at all. When this repeats, mid-to-low-tier users feel there is nothing to do. We saw this as a major reason for the shrinking user pool in MMORPGs. So, we decided to create and provide plenty of content that not only top-tier users but the entire user pool can enjoy; that is what we mean by a 'competitive MMORPG for everyone.'

Competition usually brings PvP to mind. How is competition between tiers implemented, and how do indirect competition or AI-utilized content differ from existing MMORPG PvP/PvE.

AButton Director Jung Seong-hoon = 'Between tiers' might be a misunderstanding, so let me clarify: it is about competing with others within the same tier. As mentioned, Odyssey content assumes system intervention. If I am a mid-tier player and there is a user much stronger than me, competition is impossible; if left unchecked, they would simply take all the competition. Therefore, we structured it by intentionally excluding them through the system. Odyssey content consists of forms where rivals meet and compete within instanced spaces and sessions, rather than in a space where everyone is mixed together like a typical MMORPG field.

Is the usage time or key functionality of AI Mode linked to separate products or subscription services.

Com2uS Business Manager Park Jong-hyuk = As shared at the showcase, AI Mode is provided for a base of 12 hours, and purchasing a membership product extends it to 24 hours. Various other convenience features are also provided with membership purchases. I should mention that this also serves as a minimal device to keep workshops in check.

Even if competition is mitigated, what benefits are given to top-tier users? Usually, things like tax collection rights for the winning guild in a Siege War come to mind; are such rights provided in 'Zeus'.

AButton CD Kim Tae-woo = As you mentioned, we are considering and will update the right to collect taxes in end-game content like Siege Wars. Those parts will be provided when Siege Wars begin. However, if only the top tier enjoys everything, it does not align with the 'competition everyone can do' that we pursue. In that sense, we are preparing Fortress Wars, and I hope you see that we have expanded end-game content beyond just Siege Wars to include Fortress Wars so that a wider variety of users can enjoy benefits through tax distribution.

You mentioned separating streamer servers from regular servers. Looking at games so far, streamer servers often attract all the personnel, leaving regular servers as so-called 'ghost servers.' Are there any safeguards.

Com2uS Business Director Kim Jung-hoon = As of launch, 6 out of 30 total servers will be servers where professional streamers are active. The proportion of the total servers is not large. Regular users who do not wish to play with streamers can play on other regular servers, where all the competitive systems described today will function smoothly. We will monitor them closely to ensure they do not become 'ghost servers.'

You mentioned a war on workshops. Usually, even if you record and report a video of dozens of workshop characters taking a portal at once, it is not handled well. How will you respond.

Com2uS Business Director Kim Jung-hoon = There are certainly stories that reports of that nature are not handled. We approach this in two main stages. The first is to prevent workshops from growing and affecting the economy. The second is to train AI in advance to detect patterns of abnormal behavior or repeated identical actions. This allows for automatic detection. For cases we fail to detect, if a user report comes in, we will quickly verify, identify, and sanction them, and if they have gained any benefits or caused impact, we will take measures to recover them.

There could be a growth gap between users who use AI Mode for 24 hours and those who use it for 12 hours. Doesn't this directly affect competitive balance beyond mere convenience? Are there any systemic restrictions.

AButton CD Kim Tae-woo = Even if AI Mode is 12 hours, you can perform Auto Hunt while the PC or mobile client is on without using AI Mode. You can use AI Mode during times when you cannot play right now, such as work hours or sleep, and use Auto Hunt the rest of the time. Therefore, it is designed so that there is no difference in growth. Another issue is the efficiency difference between running on the server and running on the client, which makes AI Mode more advantageous; to minimize this, we have set it so that most play while the client is on also runs on the server. It is designed so that you will not fall behind users who grow for 24 hours just because you don't have AI Mode.

While convenience is emphasized, there are benefits and play advantages for users who play directly while watching the screen without AI Mode. In content like the field events 'Abyss Rift' or 'Wave of Disaster,' which occur twice a day at specific times, you can obtain additional growth materials. Users who keep AI Mode running will get high satisfaction in terms of convenience, but there are devices where you can gain advantages in growth if you play with a little more attention.

When using AI Mode, does it include material acquisition and growth processing during the time the user is not logged in.

AButton CD Kim Tae-woo = It is true that we allow resources to be continuously acquired and growth to occur through convenience, but it is not designed to be completely left alone. You can see the screen even while running in AI Mode, and we provide the ability to trade or enhance in that state, so it does not automatically use materials obtained in the middle for growth. We have set the direction for users to log in from time to time to grow using those materials and play to increase efficiency.

However, since it is a problem if you are unaware of the situation while running AI Mode, the play situation is continuously guided via mobile pop-ups even when the client is closed, whether on PC or mobile. For example, you get a notification when the criteria set in AI Mode change, or push notifications are sent about what good items were obtained during a certain period of play. The goal is to have a play style where a push notification comes when you are in a situation where you can obtain growth materials, and you log in to the game at that time to grow or consume the obtained resources to grow, and then switch back to AI Mode.

If one user operates multiple characters and uses AI Mode, can multiple characters participate in item production and farming at the same time? Is it possible to share farmed resources between characters/accounts.

AButton CD Kim Tae-woo = Even if there are multiple characters in an account, we have set it so that only one character can run AI Mode. As you said, because users operating multiple characters could have an advantage in AI Mode, we have made it so that only one character per account can use it to prevent that.

AButton Director Jung Seong-hoon = To help with understanding, you can understand it as a format where only one AI Mode runs within an account, and the moment you log in with a character other than the one running AI Mode, the AI Mode that was running is stopped.

You said that as the Artisan's crafting skill proficiency increases, the range of items increases and there is a drop-rate increase benefit. It seems possible for a user to raise an initial character as an Artisan and then switch to a combat class to grow faster than regular users, and for early users to monopolize the supply of crafted goods. How do you see this.

AButton CD Kim Tae-woo = First, the first device to prevent this is that only one character per account can run AI Mode. Another point is that even if you play with a sub-character as an Artisan, crafting does not happen immediately. Even if you raise the Artisan's growth to allow for various crafting, you must actually play the game as an Artisan to get the materials that go into that crafting. You must hunt as an Artisan to obtain items that become crafting materials, and these materials cannot be traded between users. Therefore, even if you can spend time on a sub-character, you must actually spend that time to secure resources to produce, and no matter how much you funnel to the main character, main character growth stops during the time the Artisan grows and acquires materials. It is a structure without unconditional benefits, and I think you can see that we are defending against what you mentioned with that basic design.

Is there a cap on the diamonds a character can earn per day through the Midas Vault.

AButton CD Kim Tae-woo = There is no cap on the diamonds a user can earn. Instead, it is a structure where you acquire within the total amount of diamonds we provide. It is not a form of infinite purchase, but we supply diamonds in an amount we judge appropriate for market operation on a weekly basis. It is a structure where if a user really tries hard and acquires and sells all the items there, they can acquire all those diamonds, but I hope you see that it is not a structure where you can acquire them without limit.

AButton Director Jung Seong-hoon = We introduced the Midas Vault as two things: purchase and personal shop, and you can see purchase as first-come, first-served. We thought deeply about the amount, and designed it so that it is not purchased individually for each person, but shared together. Conversely, on the side of supplying items, we are not using it for the purpose of withdrawing diamonds, that is, selling equipment to collect diamonds. It is a part that focuses more on supplying various materials or things useful for growth at a very low cost, and we configured and provided it as a personal shop according to that intention.

You kept emphasizing competition as the essential fun of a MMORPG, but I think the essential fun of 'Ultima Online,' the first MMORPG, was freedom. There was no talk of freedom throughout the presentation. What is the freedom of a MMORPG you think of, and how is it melted into 'Zeus'.

AButton Director Jung Seong-hoon = That is a difficult question. The MMORPG genre is divided into several branches. It is cautious to mention other titles, but there are games that focus more on PvP or focus on raids, and games that focus on competition like us. The work you mentioned can be seen as the beginning of a flow where you can do almost any action freely. Regarding freedom, we actually tried to inherit the existing high degree of freedom.

I expect you asked the question because you were curious about the freedom of various actions in the field, and in that part, we made it by considering that users can sufficiently create their own rules for each server by securing freedom as much as possible. Conversely, in the case of Odyssey, there are difficult parts if only competition exists under complete autonomy, so we prepared two axes: intentionally separating and trying competition under systems and rules. I think we inherited the freedom in one axis as it is, and brought it by adding one more rather than reducing it.

Is Persona a method of analyzing the character's behavior so far and fighting as it is, or is it specified in the system? How did you implement it.

AButton CD Kim Tae-woo = As of launch, AI that has learned the user's own actions is not reflected. However, we do not provide a level of using skills in the order of 1, 2, 3, 4. Providing it in a form that can use the most efficient skill mechanism for each class is the basis of skill use. In group combat, it is reflected to the extent of doing basic actions with the goal of winning that content, and using skills that are helpful to allies toward allies.

If you ask why we didn't reflect the actual user's actions from the beginning, it is because if we provide AI that is too similar to humans from the beginning, it can feel like the 'uncanny valley' and raise the hurdle of play, and if incorrectly learned AI is reflected, play can be clumsy. We caught that direction to provide appropriate balance and AI that looks somewhat active and smart from the perspective of a user playing for the first time. That is the case as of launch, and we are planning content that reflects the actual user's play behavior in content added in the future while operating live.

It doesn't come to mind that Com2uS has settled and succeeded in a large MMORPG. What did you get from your experience so far, and what is different this time.

Com2uS Business Manager Park Jong-hyuk = We possess various experiences and infrastructure by servicing multiple games not only domestically but also globally. In particular, for this project, we are separately organizing a live service organization specialized in long-term operation of large MMORPGs, an AI detection model for workshop response, and a data-based balance response system. In addition to this, we are building a close collaboration system with the developer, AButton team, and through this, we are preparing to bring stable long-term service.

You said you recruited a long-term MMORPG live service organization, can you give a hint about which game they are from.

Com2uS Business Director Kim Jung-hoon = We didn't specifically recruit an external team, but created a new headquarters. We created a headquarters called the Zeus Business Headquarters only for the 'Zeus' project, and organized an organization that includes everything from business to operation and QA. We are also having other related departments get more involved in the 'Zeus' project, so the organization is being formed and operated. I think the biggest difference is the partnership with the developer and the synergy between the two companies. We have our own experience, and the developer also has long-term MMORPG development and live service experience, so I think if the synergy of both companies is combined, we can do stable and long-term service different from before.

Content opens quickly for the first month, how do you plan to adjust the problem that new or light users cannot follow.

AButton Director Jung Seong-hoon = We prepared the content update plan densely, and I understood it as a concern that while users who are enjoying it may be happy, content becomes excessive and acts as a hurdle for newly entered users or there is too much homework.

While explaining AI Mode, I said that we left parts that are better to do automatically as automatic, and parts that are more fun to do manually as manual. This actually means that almost everything can be made into AI Mode. The reason we intentionally didn't put it in is because we see that there is a life cycle in one section of content. When you first encounter it, it is very fresh and fun, so you naturally enjoy it manually, but I have the thought that we can aggressively support it in AI Mode regarding whether it should continue to be maintained manually even when it gradually becomes homework.

So, the range of content that AI Mode automatically supports can change by expanding or narrowing during the operation process. We will continue to adjust the amount of homework or burden that users feel to an appropriate level. I don't think of it as taking out content that you feel is not fun, and I think it is right to operate by slowly taking out parts that you no longer care about even if you run it completely automatically, and filling it with more fun content.

It is the first game AButton is showing. What kind of game do you hope it will be remembered as.

AButton Director Jung Seong-hoon = Actually, it seems the CEO should answer, but since I know the CEO well, I will answer instead: AButton is a company that knows how to make games, a company with the capability to make games well, and a development team that can operate while thinking a lot about the essence of games and communicating well with users. We are looking forward to it being a good first work that can plant that perception.

I know Com2uS has also secured global publishing rights for 'Zeus.' When do you see the global launch, and how much domestic performance do you expect.

Com2uS Business Manager Park Jong-hyuk = Basically, we prefer to launch domestically first to settle stably in the market, and then prepare for overseas service based on that experience and feedback. Specific regions or launch timing are still roughly set, so we will prepare a place to share once it is decided.

Regarding the goal, while initial performance in the MMORPG market is of course important, both companies have set the biggest goal of establishing it as a representative title that provides consistent fun to users while servicing stably for a long time. Specific sales goals or figures are parts we set and manage internally, so externally, we will do our best in service operation so that it becomes a game that can go for a long time by making user satisfaction and service stability the top priority.

It was impressive that Hermes was depicted as a female character. You distinguished Pandora as realistic beauty and Hermes as fantastic beauty, did only Pandora use facial capture.

AButton CD Kim Tae-woo = The reason we set Hermes as a female, although male in the original text, is that Pandora is a female character who plays a guide role in the early part of the main story, so we started from the idea of giving a feeling that is the same female but opposite when Hermes follows after Pandora passes. We wanted to make the difference in personality and the feeling of leading the story different between Pandora, who appears first, and Hermes, who appears later, even though they are by your side as the same guide, so we intentionally changed Hermes to a female character. We thought it was better to highlight the contrast between realistic beauty acted by an actor and artificial beauty, as mentioned earlier, rather than dividing the two characters into male and female.

AButton Director Jung Seong-hoon = If the question is whether facial capture was used for Hermes, it was not used. I hope you know that it is a character created purely by creation.

As it is a Greek mythology-based game, there must be many stories from the original text, is there a story-related roadmap prepared.

AButton CD Kim Tae-woo = There are parts where stories from the Greek original text are already reflected. In the case of the main story, we plan to internally reconstruct the story about Pandora and Pandora's box rather than reflecting the original text as it is. Other stories appearing in the original text are released a lot as in-game sub-quests. As you actually play, we have set it up by reflecting stories that bring the feeling of the original text to sub-content and quests so that you can feel "This is content I saw in the original text."