The release of Lost Ark will take place in 2022. Many players criticize Amazon for postponing the MMORPG to push its own game New World. MeinMMO editor Alexander Leitsch sees it differently. He believes that Lost Ark would have drowned in direct competition with New World.
What is going on with Lost Ark? The Korean MMORPG Lost Ark is being brought to the West by Amazon. During E3 in summer, the release was announced for 2021, but it is now facing a postponement. Lost Ark is expected to arrive in 2022.
Officially, Amazon and the developer Smilegate state that server structures, localizations and bugs are primarily responsible for the delay.
However, while many players primarily blame Amazon and claim they want to strengthen the release of New World, I firmly believe that the postponement will save Lost Ark.
Because a release with server issues or poor localization is something Lost Ark cannot afford after so many years of waiting. Additionally, it would have drowned against New World, which came in the way due to its own release postponement of Lost Ark.
New World rides on a huge hype wave
Why would New World have won the duel? New World is a new and fresh game that has already generated a lot of attention. It is the first major MMORPG from the West in many years. The last big games “from here” were ESO and WildStar in 2014.
The release is an “event”, a special occasion that many want to participate in.
This is something Amazon and likely the developer Smilegate are aware of. Amazon has already launched numerous campaigns with streamers and influencers during the beta to generate even more attention. Several big streamers fought against each other in faction battles and well-known faces like shroud or Asmongold shared their opinions, even though they expressed a lot of criticism about New World.
How great the interest in New World compared to Lost Ark is shown by Google Trends. In the last 3 months, Lost Ark only managed to surpass New World during the announcement and the technical alpha in Germany. However, the peak at the start of the beta clearly favors New World:
A similar trend is noted at MeinMMO. The interest in Lost Ark is there, but the numbers are significantly lower than those of New World. A concrete example:
- On August 4, New World announced the postponement of the release. This news appeared on our website at 7:30 PM and received just under 11,500 views for the rest of the day.
- The postponement of Lost Ark was published yesterday at 6:30 PM on our site. Despite having an extra hour, it only received 4,400 views.
Lost Ark simply takes way too long
What is the problem? Lost Ark rightfully belongs to the most anticipated MMORPGs in the West. However, Lost Ark has held this title for several years. And that is precisely the problem.
The greatest global interest was generated by Lost Ark at the end of 2018 when it was released in Korea. However, even the peak back then does not compare to the numbers from New World during the last closed beta:
While Lost Ark has developed well in recent years and recently celebrated a new player record in Korea, the long waiting time has significantly dampened the hype in the West.
Many interested players have already played Lost Ark on Russian or Korean servers. Some may have realized that the MMORPG is not for them, while others have made so much progress that they do not want to start over in the West.
While New World relies on a very Western setting – even facing criticism for being too similar to the colonial era at times – Lost Ark is an Asian game.
Through the isometric perspective, the Asian roots may not be as pronounced as in typical Asia games like Swords of Legends or Blade & Soul. However, the setting deters some players, especially due to negative experiences with other MMORPGs from Korea or China.
Moreover, the game has also made negative headlines with pay-to-win allegations. Whether these are justified can be read here: How pay-to-win is the MMORPG Lost Ark? We have talked to players.
An incomplete release would be the final nail, but the new date is well chosen
That is why the release is so important: Fans have been waiting for Lost Ark for many years and they can wait a few more months.
However, what fans would most likely not tolerate is an unfinished game that launches with poor localization, server issues, and an unfair shop in the West.
Therefore, Amazon must deliver a perfect release. However, New World’s beta already showed that the servers can pose a challenge. Lost Ark can benefit from New World’s release, which serves as a kind of beta test for server stability.
If Lost Ark is to become really big in the West, it needs to generate another hype wave. It can only do that once the hype around other games has subsided. This also applies to the advertising aspect since advertising space is finite, especially in the last quarter of 2021.
Currently, New World is the focus of MMORPG players in the West, and it will dominate attention through October. In November, there will be space for something new – in this case the beta of Lost Ark. However, the releases of New World, Final Fantasy XIV Endwalker, and 4 big new shooters will get in the way.
Early 2022 will be quieter again, and by then Amazon and Smilegate can resolve all issues and finally build hype again.
What do you think about the postponement of Lost Ark? Will it have a more positive or negative effect on the game?
2021 is a year of MMORPGs despite the postponement of Lost Ark. For already in 2021, 5 new MMORPGs have been released.
