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Smilegate does "not have any plans for EU and NA release at the moment" for Lost Ark (Korean Diablo-style MMO)

I KILL PXLS

I KILL PXLS

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,537
Last year, Smilegate said that Lost Ark will someday arrive to EU and NA but since then, nothing has been said about the expansion and by the looks of it, Lost Ark will not have a Western release anytime soon. Korean website The Bell reports that Smilegate do not have any plans for EU and NA release at the moment and are focused on the existing versions and the upcoming Japanese release.
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Apparently, the localisation is the biggest issue for the developer as it takes a lot of time to translate all subtitles and record new, English voices. On top of that, the devs are pretty busy with the Japanese version, which basically means that you can forget about Lost Ark EU/NA servers in 2020.
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I find this pretty disappointing since the game has always looked pretty promising but, according to the article, it's been losing popularity in Korea due to a poor end game and bad monetisation model so maybe it's not a huge loss. I do think it's funny they call out localisation being one of the main reasons while they're making a Japanese version and already have a Russian one (that's apparently the best way for English speakers to play right now). I think this is one of those situations where EU and NA aren't going to get it until it's dead in Korea.
 
Kalentan

Kalentan

Member
Oct 25, 2017
44,658
Feels like a big opportunity. I remember when footage came out and people were so hyped for it. But at this point people probably just don't care anymore.
 

Deleted member 2441

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
655
Another Korean MMO with monetisation issues, and yet people continue to lap them up when they release over here. At least this one seems to have really strong gameplay, which makes it more and more sad.
 
Fawz

Fawz

Member
Oct 28, 2017
3,658
Montreal
And by the time it releases in western markets it'll be so dated that the hype will have died out and competition made it's best assets look less enticing, and then they'll continue their claims that investing in western markets isn't worthwhile. Such a shame because the game is a lot of fun from what I played on the Russian server with the English patch.
 
Kalentan

Kalentan

Member
Oct 25, 2017
44,658
Fawz said:
And by the time it releases in western markets it'll be so dated that the hype will have died out and competition made it's best assets look less enticing, and then they'll continue their claims that investing in western markets isn't worthwhile. Such a shame because the game is a lot of fun from what I played on the Russian server with the English patch.
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You know I noticed that a lot of these games get Russians servers not that long after the Korean release. Is there like a Russian publisher that does the translation and such for them?
 
Dalik

Dalik

Member
Nov 1, 2017
3,528
Imagine complaining about translating to english after you've done a russian version lol
 
CountAntonio

CountAntonio

Member
Oct 25, 2017
21,715
This always blows my mind when it happens. PSO2(for so long) DDO now this. I guess it is a large undertaking to not only pay for servers but also have to offer support in other countries.
 
Fawz

Fawz

Member
Oct 28, 2017
3,658
Montreal
Kalentan said:
You know I noticed that a lot of these games get Russians servers not that long after the Korean release. Is there like a Russian publisher that does the translation and such for them?
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Russian Market is booming exponentially, if you look at market sales for most big games it's up there in top 5 regions usually. My guess is that on top of that since it's also a new market the publishers give them pretty generous deals and are agressively looking for new ventures for their market. There's also better geographical proximity to Asia compared to NA or the UK.
 
GuitarGuruu

GuitarGuruu

Member
Oct 26, 2017
6,494
Sad that we probably won't ever get to see it fully realized here, really was hoping this year it would come.
 
OP
OP
I KILL PXLS

I KILL PXLS

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,537
Fawz said:
And by the time it releases in western markets it'll be so dated that the hype will have died out and competition made it's best assets look less enticing, and then they'll continue their claims that investing in western markets isn't worthwhile. Such a shame because the game is a lot of fun from what I played on the Russian server with the English patch.
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I've been watching Death of a Game a lot on Youtube recently and I see the same patterns happen over and over and I don't really get it. I know NA usually ends up making up about 25% of their overall revenue, but I can't help but think that has a lot to do with their strategies for the market. I find it hard to believe there isn't more money to be made in NA/EU if they didn't think of them as an afterthought that's only there to wring a little extra cash out of after the fact.
 
piratepwnsninja

piratepwnsninja

Lead Game Designer
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
3,811
From what I've read, you actually get content-dry pretty rapidly in the game. I wonder if they're focusing on building out more content before considering a Western release.
 
TibimusPrime

TibimusPrime

Member
Nov 26, 2017
836
I KILL PXLS said:
I've been watching Death of a Game a lot on Youtube recently and I see the same patterns happen over and over and I don't really get it. I know NA usually ends up making up about 25% of their overall revenue, but I can't help but think that has a lot to do with their strategies for the market. I find it hard to believe there isn't more money to be made in NA/EU if they didn't think of them as an afterthought that's only there to wring a little extra cash out of after the fact.
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So this thread and your comment about Death of Game on Youtube, somehow made me want to watch that channel (if i thought it would be what i assumed it would be, and it did!) and it very interesting!
 
Sabin

Sabin

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,619
I KILL PXLS said:
I find this pretty disappointing since the game has always looked pretty promising but, according to the article, it's been losing popularity in Korea due to a poor end game and bad monetisation model so maybe it's not a huge loss.
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Pretty much the story Epic Seven (gacha game) who is also plagued by these issues.

Smilegate seems to be one of the worst publisher in the industry.
 
Einbroch

Einbroch

Member
Oct 25, 2017
17,998
SMILEGATE BEING SHIT WHAT A SHOCK

Worst publisher in gaming (outside of political views, just in terms of gaming). Absolute dogshit.

Let's take a game that makes 3+ million dollars a month and pull developers from it because we think our userbase is a bunch of idiots. They won't leave even if we put out literally zero engaging content in 10 months! So smart!

But enough about Lost Ark, let's talk about Epic Seven. Gottem. Fucking Smilegate. Fuck you.
 
Laiza

Laiza

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,171
Yeeaaaah at this point Smilegate is on my shitlist of absolutely terrible publishers that don't care at all about long-term sustainability (not that there's a big list of companies who do, but the lack of vision is extremely obvious here).

Sad sad times we live in.
 
Duxxy3

Duxxy3

Member
Oct 27, 2017
21,728
USA
By the time it makes its way here, PoE 2 will be out and maybe we'll even be in beta for Diablo 4.

Big time missed opportunity.
 
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