What is Lost Ark and why is it so ridiculously popular already?
Lost Ark just had its official free-to-play launch yesterday, and as a result, not only blew away its previous playercount on Steam, which was already impressive, but it has landed itself a spot in gaming history. As of yesterday, Lost Ark has the second highest concurrent playercount ever on Steam. The move to free-to-play after a paid “Founders” early launch more than doubled its 500,000 initial peak, which was already in Steam’s top 6. Now? Here’s the list: It’s possible it passes that again today, as sometimes Sundays trend higher overall than Saturdays. Regardless, it’s a smash hit, and one question about it keeps coming up: What is exactly is Lost Ark? And where on earth did this game suddenly come from? It’s a valid question, and unless you are extremely plugged into the gaming industry I can understand how you might think Lost Ark came out of nowhere to be a surprise megahit. Though even knowing what Lost Ark was before this, I am still blown away by these numbers, heights I would have never expected to see from it. Lost Ark’s secret, that is not really a secret, is that unlike many games that launch marred with pervasive technical issues and unfinished economies and endgames, is that this game has already existed for several years.
