Just weeks after its official launch in Western regions, Lost Ark is racking up impressive numbers. The Korean MMO ARPG has become the most viewed game on the Amazon streaming platform in 2022.
Just a few weeks after the official release of Lost Ark NA, the Korean MMO ARPG has been breaking records left and right. Within days of its launch, Smilegate’s hit ARPG reached impressive heights when it landed on Steam’s leaderboards. The game eventually peaked at 1.3 million concurrent users, outpacing regular mainstays such as Dota 2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and placing the game just second to PUBG as the most played game in the Steam store’s history. Now, the game is breaking another record as farming Lost Ark gold quickly became the most-watched activity in Twitch.
What is Lost Ark?
Lost Ark is a Korean MMO ARPG developed by Smilegate RPG. The game features an isometric perspective similar to popular ARPG games such as Diablo 3 and Path of Exile. The game also features several elements of theme-park MMORPGs such as Final Fantasy XIV and World of Warcraft. The fusion of the two genres of RPGs makes the game even more unique. What sets Lost Ark from other popular gaming titles is that Lost Ark is completely F2P, so anyone can create a Lost Ark account.
The game’s location is set in the fictional world of Arkesia where players are directly plunged into the fray. The world of Lost Ark is being threatened by the demon lord Kazeros who seeks to return and destroy Arkesia after his centuries-long imprisonment. Adventurers are tasked with locating the eight Lost Arks scattered throughout the continents while defeating the demon lord and his legion.
The game has been out since 2019 for the KR, JP, and RUS regions. It has remained popular and has consistently remained one of the most played games in these areas. Meanwhile, Smilegate RPG has partnered with Amazon Gaming Studios to release the Korean MMO ARPG to Western gamers.
What is Twitch?
Twitch is a popular streaming platform created and owned by Amazon. The website is an interactive live streaming service wherein people can create content ranging from games, entertainment, music, sports, or even to just chatting. The platform currently has over 140 million monthly active users and 9.2 million active streamers.
Lost Ark on Twitch
Smilegate’s ARPG has been considered a massive success in and out of its original regions. With its release in Western regions, the game has expanded its player base and reach. Despite only being released in the second week of February, the game has been racking up some impressive numbers. After being recognized as the second most-played Steam game in history, Lost Ark has now become the most popular game in Twitch in 2020.
After weeks of its official launch in NA and EU, the game has dominated the Twitch charts. The Korea ARPG has managed to overtake popular titles such as Grand Theft Auto V and League of Legends. The popular MMO ARPG became the second-best launched game in Twitch just 48 hours into its early access. Riot’s Valorant maintains its status as the game with the best launch on the streaming platform. The game has also helped boost the viewership and popularity of several famous MMORPG streamers such as Asmongold and Shroud.
Lost Ark currently boasts a whopping 23.11 million hours of watch-time in its first 48 hours. This number quickly grew to 146 million hours come to the end of February. The game currently has 10 million more watch hours than League of Legends and 15 million hours than GTA RP. The Korean MMO ARPG has been streamed for a total of 2.3 million hours with an average viewership of 220,000 viewers.
In addition, Lost Ark has peaked at around 1.3 million active viewers in one day. To understand how unbelievable these numbers are, here is the list of the other top-most viewed games in Twitch in the month of February:
- League of Legends: 134,682,108
- GTA V RP: 129,313,597
- Valorant: 89,088,184
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive: 67,421,442
- Apex Legends: 65,361,056
- Fortnite: 61,225,567
- Elden Ring: 59,174,143
- Call of Duty: Warzone: 38,238,896
While the numbers the game racked up are already impressive, gamers are more surprised by the fact that the Korean ARPG was able to achieve record-breaking numbers despite being out for only three weeks. Amazon’s own popular MMORPG, New World, did not come close to these viewercounts back when it was released in September of 2021.
Fans are still skeptical about the game’s success with many believing that the game will die down and lose viewership significantly as time goes on. This may stem from gamers’ experience with Amazon’s New World where the MMORPG made a stellar entrance into the industry but quickly died down and is now barely being talked about at all. However, many players are quick to note that the game has been around for a long time already, and the Western regions have not yet unlocked the full version of the game.
With new updates coming in very soon, it is expected that Lost Ark will continue to maintain its steady course at the top of the streaming platform. It will be interesting to see how the Korean MMO ARPG’s viewership will be affected by the appearance of newer games such as Elden Ring which has already gained some traction among gamers. In the meantime, it seems that the developers are keen to keep exploring and grinding Lost Ark gold in Arkesia as the most popular content in Twitch.
Warren James is the lead editor for Diving Daily. Warren has written for many publications including the New York Daily News, Vanity Fair and Yahoo. Warren is based in New York city and covers issues affecting local communities. In addition to following the day-to-day life of the Big Apple, Warren also has a passion for martial arts.