Lost ark Gold, the Korean MMORPG from Smilegate, was delivered to the west by Amazon Games just a little over a year ago, 2 yrs after the experience’s initial release in Korea. It quickly became one of many most-played MMOs on the globe, setting records on Steam and becoming rave reviews from critics.
The game reached 1.3 million concurrent players on Steam on its first day after launch and ultimately took over as the second-highest played game in history on the platform, a thing that surprised the c's at Amazon Games too.
Amazon Games Franchise Leader Soomin Park told GLHF that the game’s success depends upon its high amounts of polish, and also strong gameplay loop, and different content types for each type of player.
“We stood a strong beginning as we localized the sport for the west, on account of Smilegate pouring over four years into maturing the experience in live service,” Park said, “On the surface of that, the quantity of polish and iteration poured into Lost Ark from global player feedback can’t be overstated.”
Park says that they had high desires to buy Wotlk classic gold at launch, even so, the response from players was far beyond what anybody expected. The game has attracted an enthusiastic and dedicated group of fans, who aren’t afraid to discuss their minds as to what works and what doesn’t. That might seem to be a downside on its face, but Park says that the feedback Amazon gets from players is exactly what helps keep the overall game moving forward.
He also says that the community for the sport has gone apart in sharing their love for it, with incredible cosplay, artwork, and much more being shared constantly by fans. Players have even delivered to building up in-depth guides and systems explanations that can help new players provide an easier time, a testament to the dedication some players have to the overall game.
“We’ve seen much great content made by our fans since launch,” Park said, “We’re truly humbled becoming a part of something a great number of players worldwide love much, and we’re grateful for your passion and dedication to the sport.”
Far from your straight port from the Korean version of the sport, Amazon Games has put much work into ensuring Lost Ark is the ideal fit for western players. One big change which includes undoubtedly helped keep players retained can be a change to the overall game’s monetization structure, which Park says was altered to “be more consistent with what western players are employed to”.
In addition, the c's at Amazon added more diversity to character creation options, and created all-new events specifically with the western version of the action, like Oktoberfest. The team also worked to further improve the new player experience, but Park admits that there are still methods to go on that front.
“We are invariably gathering feedback from players and dealing with Smilegate on ways to boost the player experience, which includes their early game,” Park said, “It holds true that as the experience enters its second year of live service, new users feeling the pressure to hook up with the number of existing and high-level content.”
