Lost Ark: Why did the game arrive so late in the west?

Lost Ark has been released in the west since February 11 and has been a huge success there. This is not surprising because, indeed, the demand outside Korea was very large and many players around the world were eager to be able to explore the lands of the game. The director of the Amazon Games franchise, Soomin Park , knows this well and he answered, for vg247 , the question: why did Lost Ark arrive so late in the West?

A globalization of culture

While Park knew full well that the demand in Europe was substantial, he felt it was necessary to rework Lost Ark so that it could culturally and conventionally be exported worldwide. The game had been available in the land of the morning calm since 2019, and it was necessary before wanting to export to think about the content to be offered in the international versions.

The demand was there, Smilegate had spent years working and refining the core experience of the game, and we worked together to adapt it to an entirely new audience, with millions of gamers who can now experience the game for the first time.

Soomin Park (Source)

However, the director of Amazon Games recognizes that the entertainment industry is no longer regional, it is spreading worldwide and globalizing.

I think there is a trend towards the globalization of content across all entertainment media and an interest in international experiences that allow us to experience cultures from around the world. Korean pop culture, like music and television, is increasingly popular in the West. Games are a natural evolution of this trend. What Lost Ark does best is give ARPG fans what they need while combining the richness of a full MMO with social engagement and continuous experience. The game takes the best features of both genres to make some very compelling loops.

Soomin Park (Source)

However, the factor of cultural adaptation is not the only one that caused a delay in release between the different versions of the MMORPG.

Publishing rights

For the publication of Lost Ark in certain countries, Amazon Games is in partnership with Smilegate RPG. But this agreement only applies to certain areas clearly defined by the two partners. In this case: North America , Europe , Oceania and South America . Availabilities that had to be studied, in order to include them among the publication rights of Amazon Games.

This is a matter of publishing rights; Smilegate RPG is the game's developer and owns the intellectual property, while Amazon Games is partnered with Smilegate RPG as the game's publisher in the West. This partnership allows us to offer the game in certain regions of North America, Europe, Oceania and South America, but does not allow us to publish the game worldwide or in all regions where it was not available before.

Soomin Park (Source)

The regions favored by this agreement are those where demand was most present , which the two companies had to analyze closely. However, Smilegate RPG is constantly innovating as well as providing new content for the international versions of the game. While not all the elements of the Korean game are present in the European version yet, we can expect that, gradually, the game is upgraded.

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