Lost Ark
The iso-MMORPG by Smilegate was able to build an incredible hype before launch and had a historically strong start on Steam – only 5 other games had more concurrent players (Source: steamdb.info). Since then, very little remains after just 4 years. Instead of 1.3 million, hardly more than 10,000 players are currently active on the servers.
The main reason for the sustained failure in the West is likely a typical mistake of many Asian MMORPGs: the Free2Play model combined with a real-money currency linked to the auction house. This situation automatically creates pay-to-win pain points and a flood of bots that negatively affect the player experience.
Of course, the developers of Lost Ark are trying to combat real-money trading and the large number of bots. But how is that supposed to work when you want to maintain free access and not restrict regular players too much? No developer has yet found a sustainable answer to this question.
Even with barriers to entry like purchase price and subscription, real-money trading and increased bot presence can occur, see World of Warcraft. And even if it’s just because people want to sell you services like boosting or gold.
Nevertheless, it is important not to make it too easy for bot users and to open all the floodgates right from launch – as many Asia-MMORPGs still do today. Otherwise, all that is achieved in the West is one thing: players seek to leave. Another game can tell the same story: Throne and Liberty has lost 95% of its players, is no longer the most played MMORPG on Steam
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