About

Lost Ark is an MMORPG developed by Korean developers Tripod Studio and Smilegate RPG. The game has drawn comparisons to games like Diablo and World of Warcraft. After a lengthy development process, the game released in Korea in 2018. As it approached a February 2022 English release date, the game began growing very popular on Twitch and Steam.

History

Tripod Studio and Smilegate began development on Lost Ark in 2011.^[1] The game's first trailer premiered on November 14th, 2014 (shown below). It was released as an open beta in Korea on November 7th, 2018.^[2]

Over the following years, the game began getting released in beta in other countries, including Russia and Japan, leading Amazon Games to pick up the game for a North American and European release.^[4] At E3 2021, the game's reveal trailer launched (shown below), promising a Fall 2021 release date, though the game's release was eventually delayed.

The game is free-to-play, though players who purchased one of four Founder Packs with the game could begin playing on February 8th, 2022, three days ahead of the global release date of February 11th, 2022.^[3]

Online Presence

The game had already generated a significant amount of hype prior to its release. A subreddit for the game^[6] was created on Novemebr 14th, 2014, the same day the first trailer was shown. As of February 8th, 2022, it has over 110,000 subscribers.

The game quickly became a massive hit online when it released to players who purchased a Founder Pack. On February 8th, 2022, the game was seeing over 1 million Twitch viewers.^[4] The game also received an "Overwhelmingly Positive" score on Steam that day.^[5]

Reception

The game received a "universal acclaim" score of 82/100 on Metacritic^[7] prior to its North American release. Critics praised the tight gameplay hashed out over its lengthy periods, and compared it favorably to games like Diablo 2 and New World. In a 9/10 review, Dexerto^[8] wrote:

"Diablo laid the foundations for what the ARPG should look like, but Lost Ark innovates on these and brings them into 2022 in style. Aside from the narrative caveats, Lost Ark rises from the ashes of Diablo 2 Resurrected and New World with the power to topple titans. An immersive, beautifully crafted universe defined by its dynamic vistas and face-paced combat, Lost Ark is the rebirth that the hack and slash genre needs. I can freely admit that there’s no doubt in my mind that Lost Ark will become one of my favorite titles, and as future releases add new classes and zones into the game, I know that I’ll be on the edge of my seat just waiting to dive back in all over again – and boy, I can’t wait.

Search Interest

External References