Smilegate's 'Lost Ark' Makes a Splash in Western Markets

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] Smilegate’s massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) ‘Lost Ark’ is writing a new success story in the global market. It has surpassed 1 million concurrent users on Steam, the world’s largest gaming platform, achieving the highest success ever for a Korean MMORPG in Western markets.

According to the global gaming platform Steam on the 14th, Lost Ark recorded a peak concurrent user count of 1,316,854, ranking it as the game with the most players currently. As of 9 a.m. that day, the concurrent user count reached 1,136,666. This number, representing purely North American, European, South American, and Australian users, is four times larger than the approximately 260,000 concurrent users in Korea. This is the first time a Korean game has ranked first in peak concurrent users since Krafton’s ‘Battlegrounds (3.25 million users)’ in August 2017.

More than 1.5 million paid products (Founders Packs) were sold within two days from the 9th until the official release. The Founders Packs are composed of four types: Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze, priced between $15 and $100 each. Considering the sales volume, it is estimated that revenue exceeded 100 billion KRW. Lost Ark is known to have had a development cost of 100 billion KRW over seven years since 2011. The development cost was recovered within two days of the global launch.

This is an unprecedented achievement in Western markets, which have long been perceived as a barrier for Korean MMORPGs. The hack-and-slash combat style, a vast world view spanning East and West, and a sailing system that allows players to enjoy adventures together with others are analyzed to have stimulated the ‘gaming passion’ of global users.

Smilegate RPG plans to strengthen communication and focus on user-friendly operations to establish Lost Ark as a trusted intellectual property (IP) globally. A Smilegate RPG official said, "We will not be complacent with the current success and will do our best to repay the support we have received."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.