Published on: 14/02/2022

Lost Ark becomes the second most played game in Steam after release

Tripod Studio and Smilegate’s new MMORPG, Lost Ark, becomes the second most played game in Steam history beating CS:GO and DOTA 2.

24-hours after the Western release date on February 11, Lost Ark has recorded 1,311,842 concurrent players, passing player records of the platform’s video game hits CS:GO (1,308,963) and DOTA:2 (1,295,114). Lost Ark, however, is in second place behind battle-royale hits PUBG’s all-time peak of 3,257,248 players and still has a long way to reach that number.

According to a report by The Verge, it is still unclear the exact numbers of players who are actively playing the game and sitting at the server queue. Since Lost Ark is so popular that the game has experienced major server issues and had implemented a queue for playing the game.

Lost Ark’s success story

Additionally, according to a report by GamesRadar+, Lost Ark’s entrance to Steam has brought ‘Overwhelmingly Positive’ reviews. 96% of the game’s player base are those who had participated in the game’s pre-release alpha test.

Lost Ark is praised mostly for blending MMO system progression and ARPG mechanics. In addition to these two features, players also enjoyed the substantial endgame aspect when the main story is finished.

Lost Ark is dubbed as the “Korean Diablo-like” is a free-to-play MMORPG originally released in South Korea back in 2019 and recorded a high player count in South Korea, Japan, and Russia. The game apparently has risen to fame in a live streaming platform Twitch, beating the popularity of the platform “Just Chatting” category.

More about Lost Ark

Furthermore, Lost Ark is an isometric action MMORPG similar to Diablo and Path of Exile where players will be able to fight through hordes of enemies with one of the classes available or take on fellow players in PvP arenas. The in-game combat features a fast-paced and highly-skilled either against basic hordes of enemies or boss raids.

The game also has non-combative aspects for players to enjoy from fishing, mining to archeology. Moreover, players will be allowed to rest at some of the calming locations inside the game.

The developer of the game, Smilegate, is a South Korean video game developer and publisher best known for its work in the hit FPS title, Crossfire, which was released recently in the Western market not long ago. Smilegate also focuses on developing online games for mobile and PC.

There are many reasons behind Lost Ark’s popularity that sets the game apart from its competitors within the same genre.

Following the success of Final Fantasy 14 which has proven that there is a great appetite in the Western market for MMOs and huge Western video game developers are yet to provide for the high demand of the genre.

Blizzard, the industry front runner, and genre giant is having a hard time with its two games. World of Warcraft is struggling to maintain the game’s player count and the Diablo 4 release date is yet to be confirmed.

This marked a great time for a brand new alternative to make an entrance and Smilegate has paid attention to when they should move Lost Ark to the Western market. Additionally, with Amazon Games also tagging along with the move, the success of Lost Ark is a win-win for the two with a release in the Western market.