Development of TERA

TERA: The Exiled Realm of Arboreas development'

Bluehole Studio was established in 2007 for development of TERA. First screenshots and demos of game were released in 2010. Game was demoed in E3 2010 in Los Angeles.

Since TERA launch in Korea in February 2011 screenshots and gameplay footage started appearing in Internet raising interest. The westernization of game took over one year before game was finally opened.

En Masse Entertainment was founded in 2009 to publish game in North America. Game was out in Korea 25 January 2011. NA and European versions were opened in May 2012.

Game was changed to free-to-play model in 2013.

Changes before release

 * Elins were entitled to be the female variant of the Popori

Things that never made it to the game

 * Homunculus, was once alternative to Brokerage, or auction house system common to MMORPGs
 * Players are able to gather butterflies the same way they currently gather minerals, plants and essences
 * Player housing, was previewed but was never added to game
 * Skywhale hunting, was major part of TERA story. Several loading screens refer to this.
 * Cross-server PVP using special place accessible to teams from all servers (Agaia)
 * Game never refers world as "Arborea" or use full name of game. Although the name "The Exiled Realm of Arborea" is widely known and is even shown as program name when game is running.

Links

 * Early TERA concept art:
 * https://kotaku.com/gorgeous-tera-concept-art-fresh-from-korea-5924677
 * https://www.artstation.com/artwork/kWgaz
 * https://www.neoseeker.com/tera-the-exiled-realm-of-arborea/concept_art/
 * https://www.creativeuncut.com/art_tera-the-exiled-realm-of-arborea_a.html