There are rumors that Lost Ark might not receive a European release after all. Our author Schuhmann says: This is a rumor that should stop. Everything now points to an EU release by the Russians from my.com. They are even looking for a community manager.
Many have been waiting for years for the European release of Lost Ark. However, since mid-December, a rumor has been circulating that Lost Ark will never come to the West. We are looking at this rumor and saying what is true and what stands against it.
Where does the rumor come from? There is a single source for this rumor, on which all further articles and YouTube videos rely. The rumor comes from the Korean site “thebell.” (via thebell) This is not a gaming site, but a business site.
In an article from December 19, it was about the planned IPO of Smilegate, the developer of Lost Ark.
Therefore, the financial situation of Smilegate and Lost Ark was considered. The idea is: They will go public when things are particularly good for them, and the company is especially valuable due to the success of Lost Ark; for this, the financial perspectives are important.
In November, Smilegate announced plans to go public in May 2020. TheBell wanted to find out how the prospects for this are in December.
The article has 10 paragraphs and revolves around how the financial perspective of Smilegate looks, how much money the MMORPG Lost Ark takes in. It says:
- the game is doing very well in Korea
- but it takes time to bring Lost Ark to Russia and Japan because localization is progressing slowly
Then you read in a single sentence: “It is reported that Smilegate has no plans for further overseas expansions outside of Russia and Japan.”
This is the whole origin of this rumor. In the next sentence, it already talks about a planned mobile port.
Rumor comes through a game of telephone to the West
Is this official? No. The site does not provide a source for this assumption. This is a “rumor” or speculation.
How did this spread? The sentence, “It is reported that Smilegate has no further expansions planned for overseas,” was picked up by the US site “AltChar,” which focused only on this sentence without marking it as speculation. Altchar then stated: The Bell reported that Smilegate is not planning a port to the West.
Other sites, such as mmorpg.com or German PC Games, refer back to Altchar: “It’s not coming.”
A larger MMO YouTuber also covered this. He turned it into a “RIP Lost Ark” and gained 130,000 views.
- Smilegate itself said on November 17, in 2020 they want to seriously tackle the “global expansion” for Lost Ark. (via news.1.kr)
- Smilegate has been looking for English-speaking employees
- it has been a recurring topic, that Lost Ark is intended for the
In the Lost Ark subreddit, this coverage is repeatedly criticized. But it is spreading.
More on the topicSo wollen Project TL und Lost Ark das PC-MMORPG retten
What speaks for the EU release of Lost Ark
What does it really look like? Absolutely everything else apart from that one sentence from TheBell speaks at the moment in favor of Lost Ark getting an English version and appearing in the West:
- Smilegate itself said on November 17, in 2020 they want to seriously tackle the “global expansion” for Lost Ark. (via news.1.kr)
- Smilegate has been looking for English-speaking employees
- it has been a recurring topic, that Lost Ark is intended for the
