![]() Path of Exile has been feeding the ARPG need for quite some time, but those who have been patiently waiting for Diablo 4 and have burned their way through the genre’s other offerings are certainly open to trying a major new ARPG that offers what feels like an almost unlimited amount of PvE and PvP content. ![]() Final Fantasy 14 has been one of the most obvious beneficiaries of that search, but just as we saw with New World, there’s clearly still a market for MMOs that allow people to potentially get in on the ground floor (or close to it) of a grand new adventure.ĪRPG fans don’t have it quite as bad, but the situations are similar. Even since WoW started to alienate more of its fans, a lot of MMO players have been searching for the next big thing. Lost Ark Fills Two Important Genre VoidsĪs an MMMO with ARPG combat, Lost Ark essentially belongs to two genres that a lot of people seem to be invested in at the moment. It’s hardly unusual for a developer to fill a game’s opening with jaw-dropping set-pieces and instantly accessible action, but the way Lost Ark presents itself as something other than an MMOARPG while staying true to that genre is quite impressive. Lost Ark Makes A Great First Impressionįrom a design perspective, one of Lost Ark’s greatest strengths may be the various ways the game is designed to make the best first impression possible. Honestly, Amazon is really starting to figure out how to use Twitch to turn a new game into something you feel like you need to experience ASAP just so you’re not completely in the dark. ![]() Of course, it certainly doesn’t hurt that Amazon ( Lost Ark’s publisher and Twitch’s parent company) has been offering Lost Ark “loot drops” via Twitch since the game’s Steam debut. Those that follow them clearly wanted in on the fun, and even those who couldn’t name a Twitch streamer if they were forced to do so probably ended up hearing about the game due to the ripple effect streamers can generate when they essentially devote their channels to new games. Top Twitch streamers like Asmongold, Fextralife, and others have been talking about Lost Ark’s Steam debut for weeks now and really sent its hype into overdrive when some of them participated in the title’s recent early access period. That’s certainly what we saw in the case of Lost Ark’s debut. Whether you love them, hate them, or have no opinions about them whatsoever, it should be clear at this point that the biggest streamers can easily influence a game’s popularity at launch. Lost Ark Benefited From Weeks of Streamer Hype (and its Amazon Connection) Whether or not Lost Ark remains one of the most popular games on Steam in the weeks and months to come remains to be seen, but the decision to launch it in new markets as a free-to-play game was obviously the right move. We’re going to talk about the asterisk that should be put next to Lost Ark’s free-to-play status, but there’s no denying that it’s yet another recent example of how much easier it is to convince people to take a chance on something new if you don’t charge them upfront for the privilege to do so. Lost Ark’s free-to-play status isn’t the final word about the game’s popularity, but you’re lying to yourself if you’re starting a conversation about the game’s historic debut without bringing up its price point (or notable lack thereof). In fact, there are some pretty good reasons why Lost Ark has already become gaming’s biggest “new thing.” Lost Ark Proves the Power of Free-to-Play ![]() Like most of those other titles, though, Lost Ark‘s sudden rise isn’t as inexplicable or sudden as it may seem. While some of those titles end up staying on our radars for longer than others, each of them proved that it’s still very much possible for slightly smaller and relatively obscure games to make a name for themselves without the obvious benefits of a major franchise name, a huge marketing push, or any of the other niceties many Triple-A studios regularly get to work with. In recent years, we’ve seen games like Fall Guys, Among Us, and Splitgate seemingly come out of nowhere to take the industry by storm. Lost Ark is breaking player count records, taking Twitch by storm, and leaving just about everyone who is out of the loop wondering how this MMOARPG became so popular so quickly.
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