Say that Lost Ark was eagerly awaited in the West is an understatement. Officially released three days ago, the MMO hack'n slash free-to-play of Smilegate is a real phenomenon.
Despite major server problems to accommodate the massive influx of Western players, Lost Ark has indeed hit the headlines this weekend on Steam and Twitch.
An Ark not so lost
Three years after its deployment in Korea and Russia, the title of Smilegate has finally arrived at home, not without difficulty. Delayed opening of servers, endless queues to connect, even untimely crashes for some, Western players definitely had trouble finding the Ark this weekend.
Despite these technical issues, that didn't stop Lost Ark from having a truly phenomenal launch. At the time of this writing, more than 500 adventurers roam the world of Archesia, with an impressive peak set at over 000 million this Saturday, when Smilegate expected much more modest numbers.
Those faced with queues blithely exceeding 10 users have meanwhile chomped at the bit on Twitch, where the game gathered the prodigious account of a million spectators last Friday and Saturday.
It remains to be seen whether the Lost Ark phenomenon will continue or whether the enthusiasm around the free-to-play MMO from Korea will eventually die down. Smilegate expects an average of 50 to 000 players within three months.
And you, did you walk the lands of Archesia this weekend, or give up in the face of the intimidating boss that was the queue?
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