After only a few days in North America, the massively multiplayer online role-playing game Lost Ark is already breaking records on Steam and Twitch. North American territories have just received the Amazon-published free-to-play game. This has been a huge success, but the game has also been hampered by long queues at the Lost Ark.
There have been some odd developments in Amazon’s entrance into the realm of video games, including the axing of Crucible, which was launched in 2020.
If the concurrent player count of New World from last year is any indication, the game has done better than its predecessor. With the North American release of Lost Ark, the giant tech and media company is hoping to grow its footprint in the game industry even further. Like other famous online RPGs like Genshin Impact, the live-service MMO is free to download and sponsored by numerous in-game transactions. According to a recent press release from Amazon, Lost Ark is currently shaping up to be one of the most popular MMORPGs of the year.
Just a few days after its release, Lost Ark has already surpassed 1.3 million peak concurrent players, making it Steam’s second most popular game of all time. With more than 60 million hours of cumulative view time for all broadcasts dedicated to the game, Twitch (owned by Amazon) is also seeing a lot of interest in Lost Ark. An Amazon Games vice president said the firm was “humbled and gratified” by the passionate player response to Lost Ark, which was released earlier this year.
After mentioning the success of New World, Hartmann pointed out that both MMORPGs are among the most popular on Steam. There are some concerns about industry concentration and monopoly with Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision-Blizzard and Bethesda, but MMORPG players appear to be having a fantastic time with both of these games, so it may be worthwhile to voice these issues.
It is possible that the integrity and accountability of the gaming business might be affected if the sector is controlled by a few significant corporations. Of course, it’s not as near as it appears. For example, Square Enix and HoYoVerse are making a splash with Final Fantasy XIV and Genshin Impact, respectively. Games like Lost Ark will always be welcomed if the video game industry can find a way to achieve a balance between enjoyable, AAA experiences and industry diversity.