An MMO has gained a new breath by topping Twitch categories since Sept. 13, but unfortunately, it’s not something that will reassure Lost Ark players.
Lost Ark has risen to the top of the streaming platform for the first time since the game’s release in the West, which made a splash in February 2022.
I first thought the audience had exploded thanks to the latest Major update to Lost Ark‘s Western version, which launched on Sept. 13, hoping for a revival. It turns out, however, that what caused this is a content drop on the Korean version of the game.
English-speaking streamers who topped the category actually started playing the Korean game instead of its Western version, released over a year after the Korean one. They are competing in the Race to World’s First in the latest raid released in the Korean game.
Thaemine is the most difficult raid in Lost Ark, and after three days of tries, no team has managed to beat the fight at the time of writing. It includes several phases and wipe mechanics that won’t allow the slightest mistake.
This proves the Western content has been overshadowed by Korean updates once again, which isn’t a good sign for Lost Ark’s future. A few months after the game was released, the number of active players and viewers quickly fell.
Players expressed frustration over the slow pace of updates rolling on the Western version, which didn’t come close to catching up with the Korean game which features a tight patch schedule.
A year and a half after its Western release, the game still has a lot of content missing from the original game, with end-game content especially absent. As long as there’s a delay in new content rollout, hopes for a revival will remain low.
Still, the game has seen a rise in the number of average active players in August for the first time this year, according to Steam Charts. September’s update targeted newcomers, with the launch of Jump-Start servers.
They aim at making progression faster for new players with enhanced materials and a start at item Level 1415. It might have brought an array of new players. Still, it’s nowhere near the numbers of 2022 (almost 700,000 average players at launch and 170,000 in January 2023, compared to 26,000 in August).
