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After Just 24 Hours 'Lost Ark' Becomes the Second Most Played Game in Steam History (theverge.com) 82

Posted by EditorDavid from the game-day dept.
"Lost Ark has comfortably passed 1 million concurrent players after just 24 hours, becoming the second most played game in Steam history by concurrent counts," reports the Verge: The Diablo-like MMO launched Friday in the West, after Amazon Games collaborated with Smilegate RPG to localize and translate Lost Ark and make it available in English. It has now passed concurrent records for both Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Dota 2, which regularly dominate the top of Steam's most-played games.

Lost Ark is so popular right now that it has experienced server issues and there's a queue just to start playing. SteamDB lists concurrent players of Lost Ark at 1,311,842, passing CS:GO's record of 1,308,963 players and Dota 2's of 1,295,114. It's not clear exactly how many of those players are actually actively playing the game and not sitting in a server queue, though.

Either way, it's now second place on the top concurrent list behind only PUGB...
The article notes it's Amazon's second big hit after its game New World "set a concurrent record of 913,634 players four months ago."

GameSpot also spotted a playful clause in the game's terms of service. It specifies that while players must be human (and not AI), that doesn't apply if Earth is taken over by robots, simians, or aliens. "In that event, Amazon said these beings will be allowed to play Lost Ark and other games. 'We welcome our alien, robots, ape, or other overlords, as applicable,' Amazon said."
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After Just 24 Hours 'Lost Ark' Becomes the Second Most Played Game in Steam History More

After Just 24 Hours 'Lost Ark' Becomes the Second Most Played Game in Steam History

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  • we have top men working on it

  • For those confused by all the acronyms (Score:5, Funny)

    by Samantha Wright ( 1324923 ) on Sunday February 13, 2022 @08:58PM (#62265021) Homepage Journal
    "PUGB" is short for Player Unknown's Grattlebounds, a popular rattle boyale shooter.

  • Lost Ark vs New World. (Score:3)

    by splutty ( 43475 ) on Sunday February 13, 2022 @09:13PM (#62265039)

    Let's just hope that Lost Ark doesn't follow the other New World metrics after that player count on launch..

    Namely diving off a cliff and splatting hard on the floor.

  • I don't see the appeal (Score:4, Insightful)

    by srichard25 ( 221590 ) on Sunday February 13, 2022 @09:15PM (#62265041)

    I don't see the appeal. I played Lost Ark for about 2 hours and then uninstalled it. The story is silly, the loading/wait times are absurd, and the combat is little more than button mashing the same rotation over and over. Although I didn't experience it myself, I've read that the game requires massive grinding. I'll go back to playing Diablo 3 before wasting any time on this game.

    • Re:I don't see the appeal (Score:4, Informative)

      by gweihir ( 88907 ) on Sunday February 13, 2022 @09:39PM (#62265059)

      I don't see the appeal. I played Lost Ark for about 2 hours and then uninstalled it. The story is silly, the loading/wait times are absurd, and the combat is little more than button mashing the same rotation over and over. Although I didn't experience it myself, I've read that the game requires massive grinding. I'll go back to playing Diablo 3 before wasting any time on this game.

      Thanks. One more thing I do not even need to look at.

    • Also it won't run on Linux. (Score:5, Informative)

      by Brain-Fu ( 1274756 ) on Sunday February 13, 2022 @09:42PM (#62265067) Homepage Journal

      At least as of 2/13/2022, the version of Easy Anti-Cheat that it uses will not run on Linux, even when using a compatibility layer like WINE or Proton. Apparently, Linux-friendly builds of Easy Anti-Cheat exist, but the developers have chosen not to use this.

      I guess I can't blame them. The linux-using player base is a tiny proportion of the total player base, so for the most part it isn't worth their effort. If it really IS as easy as checking a box, then maybe the numbers are there to justify it, but I am not in a position to know that. I am hoping that the Steam Deck will be popular enough that developers find more incentive to take the small steps necessary to get things running on Linux, but I guess we will see.

      I would check the game out if it ran on Ubuntu, but until that day I will just draw from the enormous library of other games that DO run on Linux, available through steam.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        I wonder if the Steam Deck will change things. If it becomes popular then it would be worth the developers putting in the time to get Linux support working.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by kalpol ( 714519 )
        I've realized this year that my gaming needs for the *next 20 years* are met solely with things that will run on Linux. I haven't even gotten around to Baldur's Gate yet, and there's still some replaying to be done as well. And in the off time, I seem to remember Oddworld:Abe's Oddyssey and Gran Turismo were excellent, excellent PS1 games...not to mention my annual playthrough of Super Mario World. I've lost track of what's new since there's so much now that's old.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by UnknownSoldier ( 67820 )

      > Lost Ark ... combat is little more than button mashing the same rotation over and over.

      How is that any different from Diablo 2, Diablo 3, Grim Dawn, or Path of Exile? /s

      ALL ARPGs are basically glorified Skinner Boxes [wikipedia.org]:

      1. Genocide
      2. Phat Loot
      3. Rinse and repeat

      > I'll go back to playing Diablo 3 before wasting any time on this game.

      I guess the irony was lost on this one... /s

      • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward
        I think the point is lost Ark doesn't seem to bring anything new to the table, combined with dated graphics and limited regional support outside EU and US you may as well stick with what is currently out there.

        • It has considerably more hip wiggle and cleavage for the mandatory cut scenes, more than a small phone display can handle. A small number of PC users may find it fascinating for a period.

          • Damn, the only damn thing I remember about this game (played a couple hours this weekend before deleting) was the damn hip sway. It would be deemed extreme even for runway models. For an action hero destined chosen one, it's frankly laughable. The rest was just boring.

    • Re:I don't see the appeal (Score:4, Insightful)

      by bloodhawk ( 813939 ) on Sunday February 13, 2022 @10:03PM (#62265103)
      I lasted around the same amount of time before uninstalling. uninspiring and a rather dull button masher.
    • Wait, so diablo 3 isn't a button making game with a lack of story?

      Lost Ark isn't quite as polished as d3 but there is far more going on than just running the same levels over and over. It may get boring just oon but so far it's good.
    • They need the massive grinding so youâ(TM)ll pay to win instead

  • The Power of Marketing (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Arzaboa ( 2804779 ) on Sunday February 13, 2022 @09:22PM (#62265047)

    When the game was released, they hired all of the top streamers on twitch to play the game for a week. For reference, this crew garners 10's of millions of views a week.

    Their viewers tend to play along with the people they watch.

    I wondered how well this strategy would work for a so-so game, which most of these streamers will stop playing in a week when they are no longer paid for it.

    Clearly it worked really well, and would also explain the "concurrent" player count.

    --
    The space between the television set and the viewer is holy ground. - Fred Rogers

    • Re:The Power of Marketing (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Jack9 ( 11421 ) on Sunday February 13, 2022 @09:40PM (#62265065)

      > I wondered how well this strategy would work for a so-so game,

      This was done to try to push Blizzard's Heroes of the Storm into a popular competitive game. The strategy failed hard, because of the unpopular gameplay mechanics (a whole different topic).

      Lost Ark has a similar problem. The numbers will crumble after a few weeks as it's a 20 hour intro to Korean style grinding, which requires an extreme time commitment (to be gracious) for access to additional content. It's basically Lineage or DFO, which many players are too young to remember. The current popularity is explained by the spend behind it and an audience of gamers burnt out by the same reskinned games over and over again. Nobody has seen a popular and modern isometric MMO in decades, so LA seems like it should be more than it is.

      • But by all accounts path of exile is pretty great and does free to play right. Much in the same way Warframe manages to do. Come to think of it those are the only two free to play games I don't usually hear a bad things about. I guess there's Phantasy Star Online New Genesis, although I've heard it's a little empty.

        • Re: (Score:2, Offtopic)

          by tsm_sf ( 545316 )

          Ok I'll bite. I had almost half a grand sunk into Warframe and then had my account locked. When I finally got a response from them about it, it was in the form of an incredibly rude email accusing me of stealing their premium currency. They will unlock my account for $275.

          I have never stolen a premium currency. Or even a sub-prime currency. I generally earn currencies, in fact.

          So yeah, Warframe stole my money and then accused me of theft.

          • Re:Diablo clones aren't really my thing (Score:4, Informative)

            by Luckyo ( 1726890 ) on Monday February 14, 2022 @02:27AM (#62265373)

            That's what happens when you buy premium currency from scammers who buy it with stolen credit cards.

            When their payment is inevitably pulled, all the currency they sold to other players is also pulled. And if you go deep into negative on premium currency, your account is banned until you resolve the negative balance.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by tsm_sf ( 545316 )
              Or trade for premium currency, apparently.

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

                You are allowed to trade for premium currency in Warframe. It's a way to get people who play a lot but can't afford to buy premium currency to not hate on the whales. Because whales will spend a lot of money to get premium currency, for which they can trade items that need grinding and are tradeable to players, like prime warframe parts that are no longer available outside timed events. This works just fine for pretty much everyone, if you have time to grind, you trade for premium and buy cosmetics from the

        • Re:Diablo clones aren't really my thing (Score:4, Insightful)

          by Can'tNot ( 5553824 ) on Monday February 14, 2022 @04:43AM (#62265543)

          does free to play right. Much in the same way Warframe manages to do.

          This is being awfully generous. Much like DRM, microtransactions in games can not be done "right," they can only be done "tolerable." Warframe's microtransactions aren't better than other games, they're qualitatively very similar, Warframe is just cheaper. Those potatoes that you have to buy with premium currency, which are required for every weapon and Warframe and everything else - they're cheap. That's the only thing which sets them apart from paywalls in other games.

          There are other issues, not directly related to payment... Bleh, I'll stop talking now. I'm mostly just annoyed at the notion that free to play could be done right. There are plenty of good games which are free, but that's not the same thing.

          • I mean that you don't feel unduly pressured, and can play the game and enjoy it without spending much, if any, money.

            This in turn results in a large community of free players who make content and community for the game resulting in value for the paid players and the company. In a best case scenario it's an "everybody wins" scenario.

            And by all accounts, including some Warframe players I know IRL, it works. But the key is a) Warframe & PoE are independent (or if they've gotten bought out while I w
            • The temptation is to respond to something like this with, "Well... Genshin isn't really so similar to a JRPG. The emphasis, or at least the bulk of the time that you spend playing, is on exploring a large and densely packed world. It's more of a sandbox game. If you want a freemium game that's more in line with a linear story-based JRPG, then you could try..."

              I had to catch myself there, I almost wrote that without the self-awareness. If you want a JRPG then just play a JRPG. Playing these freemium games

          • Those Potatoes (Orokin Reactor/Orokin Catalyst) are earnable in game, you don't need to spend Platinum on them. You can also earn Platinum by trading with players, so you don't need to spend anything to play Warframe.
            https://warframe.fandom.com/wi... [fandom.com]

            The only thing you need to spend money on, is Excalibur Prime, and if you weren't in the Kickstarter, it is too late for that.

          • I haven't played Warframe, but Path of Exile's microtransactions are almost entirely cosmetic. The only purchases that give any advantage are additional tabs in the inventory stash, but they aren't required.

          • Since their alerts rework, you've never really needed any more potatoes than what you can earn in nightwave once you've played long enough. Theres a point early enough in your playing life with the life of the game where there's incentive to buy, but never an obligation which I think can't be said for more aggressive game monetization systems.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Wokan ( 14062 )

            You can buy the "potatoes" with Nightwave credits (which you earn doing in game tasks for those not familiar with Warframe). No need to spend any premium currency.

          • does free to play right. Much in the same way Warframe manages to do.

            This is being awfully generous. Much like DRM, microtransactions in games can not be done "right," they can only be done "tolerable." Warframe's microtransactions aren't better than other games, they're qualitatively very similar, Warframe is just cheaper. Those potatoes that you have to buy with premium currency, which are required for every weapon and Warframe and everything else - they're cheap. That's the only thing which sets them apart from paywalls in other games.

            There are other issues, not directly related to payment... Bleh, I'll stop talking now. I'm mostly just annoyed at the notion that free to play could be done right. There are plenty of good games which are free, but that's not the same thing.

            I think we need to be more conscious of the difference between free to play and micro transactions here. Quake had a free shareware demo, it was the whole first chapter of the game. If instead of charging $60 for the whole game, they had charged $20 for each additional chapter, what's wrong with that? My point is that free to play can be done right, and a demo is widely recognized as one way of doing that. And what constitutes a demo is pretty open.
            https://never-obsolete.tumblr.... [tumblr.com]

            Look at the Wolfenstei

            • I generally avoid the term "free to play" entirely. It doesn't mean what it suggests, any game which doesn't have ongoing costs could be described as free to play. No matter how much money you may be required to spend to buy it, or to spend on in-game equipment, or time you may be required to spend watching advertisements. I also think it's a little too flattering, since free-to-play games which don't pressure you into spending money are few and far between. I like the word freemium better.

              As for Quake,

              • I tried to lay out in my last paragraph what I think we'd all consider bad micro transactions, versus what I'd call good ones. Hopefully my Quake example makes sense, games were so simple back then. The point I'm trying to make is free, freemium, and micro transactions don't have to suck and can be a good thing.

                Paying to unlock weapons slots would feel a lot like the freemium pay to win crap we have now. Players would get frustrated at some point wondering why the game is so hard, was it designed to be p

        • I can vouch for Path of Exile--it's everything Diablo III should have been and more. The economy works well, the gameplay is fun and incredibly varied, and the microtransactions do not allow pay-to-win. However, I tired out after playing it for several years. I can't believe it's still going. I would wager that it's still a fun experience for new players, but it'd be hard for me tog et back into it after a long list of changes.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        Lost Ark has a similar problem. The numbers will crumble after a few weeks as it's a 20 hour intro to Korean style grinding

        I was kind of impressed at the concurrent numbers, especially compared to New World. Then I noticed Lost Ark is free to play, nuff said.

    • They did that with New World, and (despite its reference by the /. summary as 'a hit' due to big early player numbers) it's regarded in the gaming community as a nigh-irredeemable shitshow of bugs, bad decisions, dumb development and dull game.

      Tons of streamers jumped in. Tons of sheeple followed. Game is a mess and widely disliked. It may continue to run because maintenance is barely a rounding-error cost in Amazon's budge but as an independent title I wouldn't expect it to last another year.

    • When the game was released, they hired all of the top streamers on twitch to play the game for a week. For reference, this crew garners 10's of millions of views a week.

      My question is, did the streamers come clean with full disclosure that they were paid to shill this game? I don't know much about streamer culture but was wondering if transparency is a thing or not.

      • Nope, they're all in on creating bullshit experiences for their audiences to pump their bottom lines. Amazon's complicit because it's their bottom line to say nothing. He'll, with the bullshit known as drops, they get a new monetization scheme from the publishers releasing on Twitch. Tip to bottom, the system is corrupt and will only get fixed with suits/legislation. Ah the power of capitalism.

  • New world is a success? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by bloodhawk ( 813939 ) on Sunday February 13, 2022 @09:58PM (#62265093)
    Second Big Hit? I think most people will agree "New World" was a massive flop, sure it had around a million players day one, but 3 months later it is sitting with a daily peak of around 30k which is a rapid death spiral for an MMO.

    • The difference is Lost Ark was released in 2019 in Korea. It is only in 2022 that is was available to North America + Europe.

      • Re:New world is a success? (Score:4, Insightful)

        by bloodhawk ( 813939 ) on Sunday February 13, 2022 @10:09PM (#62265119)
        Not debating that, Lost Ark may well be a huge hit, regardless I don't think New World should be classified as a hit when it is basically moribund after 3 months.

        • To be fair you don't get almost 1 million by failing. Part of the problem is that there is no time duration considered for what is a hit. I think it is fair to say New World WAS a (temporary) hit.

          But yeah, New World is dead and a dud. Which is all that matters really -- long term the game is dead for all practical purposes.

  • desperation (Score:3)

    by gravewax ( 4772409 ) on Sunday February 13, 2022 @11:03PM (#62265183)
    I think more a sign of desperation, MMO's that are decent and new are very sparse on the ground in recent years so lots of people looking for something good, especially after the very unpolished turd that was New World (how the fuck did any self respecting person write a summary that says New World was a hit). The real test will be what do the number look like in 1 or 2 months.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by ledow ( 319597 )

      There was an absolute dearth of content over lockdown in many media.

      With a captive audience, an industry that can pretty much "work from home" unaffected, and a desperate need for entertainment and release, there was a pathetic showing from Hollywood, TV and the video game industry.

      What was "the game" of the various lockdowns? What was "the movie"? Or the "TV show" that everyone latched on to to get them through it? Nothing.

      The media industry singularly failed over the last two years, and now we're final

  • Steam (Score:2)

    by ledow ( 319597 )

    And full of "mixed" reviews.

    Which, on Steam, is a bit of a killer for me.

    Most of the negatives are not "can't find a server", etc. which you would expect upon release but more about abuses of the process to make you part with money just as it gets interesting.

  • FF14 (Score:1)

    by r12o ( 6733986 )
    My MMO fix has already been with Final Fantasy 14. The fact that it also happens to be the only one that can run on Linux (got mine working with a Lutris install script) also helps quite a bit. It might also be the only good one, I don't know.
  • The first game is free...

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