On the evening of August 25, the gamescom 2021 Opening Night Live took place on Twitch. This is an event where, similar to E3, new games and new content for well-known games are presented. However, those who wrote the name of the MMORPG “Lost Ark” were quickly kicked from the chat. We at MeinMMO summarize.
What happened at the gamescom ONL? At the event, new games and new trailers for well-known games were shown. Many fans were eagerly awaiting new information about the MMORPG Lost Ark. This action MMORPG has been running in South Korea for several years now and is extremely successful there:
- Amazon plans to bring it to the West in 2021.
- Originally, it was said that a beta for the Western release of the MMORPG would come in July.
- Additionally, just one day prior, the last class in the MMORPG was introduced by the developers.
The fans were therefore excited about Lost Ark and made this known in the chat. However, so much so that after a short time the phrasing “Lost Ark” was banned in the official stream on Twitch. Anyone who mentioned their favorite MMORPG in the making was banned for a short time.
This alone was a no-go for many fans, and some began to complain in the forums, but it was about to get worse. Both Smilegate, who originally developed Lost Ark, and Amazon Games, who are supposed to release the game here, were at gamescom. But there was no sign of Lost Ark.
Smilegate showed their new shooter Crossfire X and Amazon Games announced a further beta for their other MMORPG New World. While many fans were hoping to get new information about Lost Ark at gamescom, they were not only disappointed by the event itself but were also not allowed to write about the MMORPG anymore.
In this clip, streamer Stoopzz_TV shows that one can indeed be muted for using the words “Lost Ark” and the message is automatically deleted:
Accusation against Amazon: You are hiding Lost Ark because of New World
How did the community react? In the channels of Lost Ark, disappointed and angry fans soon gathered, especially the Steam forum became a heated source of discussion. People complained that they hadn’t heard anything from Lost Ark for too long.
Many suspect that Amazon Games is deliberately delaying Lost Ark in order to promote their own MMORPG New World. This suspicion was only reinforced by the banning of the words “Lost Ark.” User Peejeha writes on Steam among other things: “Of course, people spam because they want to know more about the game, and the best reaction is just to ban everyone. Brilliant.”
One of the biggest points of criticism from fans is that they have not received new information about the game since the closed alpha in June. The closed beta was supposed to start just a few weeks after the alpha, but no date is known for it yet. This is making many fans angry.
The pressure from the community continued to rise until an Amazon Games employee who works on Lost Ark joined the discussion and apologized.
“You have our full understanding
What does Amazon Games say about this? The developer Roxx from Amazon Games spoke in two topics in the Steam forums. He attempts to diffuse the situation and clarify. Regarding the mutes on Twitch, he writes the following:
Just to clarify and to prevent any conspiracy theories from arising – Twitch and Amazon Games are both under the umbrella of Amazon, but we operate as independent companies. This was not a planned move from us and we did not ask to mute Lost Ark. I think it happened because the chat was spamming too much. It would have happened with any spammed phrase. So, in a way, thank you for loving Lost Ark so much that you made it spam.
via Steam
The fans mostly reacted to the message understandingly. However, some believe that Amazon should not have let it come to this and that no one would have complained so much if there would have simply been more information.
In another forum post, the user who created the post even personally addresses Roxx and asks for more information and for the massive silence surrounding Lost Ark to finally be broken. After this post also received a lot of attention, developer Roxx responded here as well and showed understanding.
Hey, I can clearly hear you and I have forwarded everything to our teams and raised awareness. You are absolutely right to be disappointed, frustrated, and even angry about the silence that has surrounded Lost Ark for some time now.
I know my words here don’t mean anything as long as we can’t show you anything, but we have developed a plan to continually present new content and updates. And to prevent such incidents in the future. It was definitely a rocky start, and I don’t think this comment makes up for anything. But I want you to know that you have our full understanding. Please don’t stop being so engaged when the game launches. We always want to improve.
via Steam
Especially the last post from Roxx is met with much understanding from the community. User Derpy Moa responds gratefully: “Thank you for that. Especially after the gamescom stream, this really helps a lot.” Other comments are similar.
What’s next?
What is the status of Lost Ark? Well, nobody really knows at this point. After the alpha in June, there has been silence from the developers. A beta was supposed to start “just a few weeks” after the alpha, but that timeframe has passed. There is also still no release date, other than fall 2021.
Various sources have leaked October 21 as a possible release date, but this information is not official and can change at any time. Amazon’s other MMORPG New World has also been delayed multiple times, most recently to the end of September.
How do you see this? Are you also waiting for Lost Ark or were you completely satisfied with the beta of New World? What do you think of Roxx’s statement? Feel free to share it in the comments.
While you wait forever for Lost Ark, it is breaking many records in the motherland of MMORPGs.
