“Lost Ark” Celebrates Three Years and More Than 30 Content Updates

Publisher Amazon Games and developer Smilegate RPG introduced players in the West to the world of Lost Ark for the first time. What happened next was completely unexpected, as the game soared to a record-breaking number of concurrent players on Steam, where it remains in the top five games all time in terms of peak concurrency on the platform. Today, three years after its Western launch, Lost Ark remains one of the most-played free MMOs on Steam.

“The overwhelming interest that players gave us when Lost Ark was launched in the West is probably the most unforgettable moment to us,” said Smilegate RPG. “There have been many moments since then that have surprised us, but the most impressive thing about the Western player base is that they are generally very cheerful and always exchanging diverse opinions.”

For those Western players, Lost Ark’s launch kicked off an unforgettable ride that has seen a content update arrive every month as the game charged along to catch up with the version launched in South Korea in 2019. Some of the most significant evolution has come to Lost Ark’s endgame content. “When we launched back in 2022, the first big raid released was Argos,” said Roxanne Sabo, community lead for Lost Ark at Amazon Games. “Since then, we’ve had tons of new raids and challenges come to the game that make Argos look like a walk in the park. It’s been amazing to see players grow and evolve with these releases, and the challenges they’ve been able to conquer in terms of just gameplay skill.”

Matthew Huston, associate franchise lead for Lost Ark at Amazon Games, agreed. “To think back on three years, there is so much to take in,” said Huston. “The game itself has absolutely changed in terms of the content we’re providing and how the players consume said content. The biggest evolution is of course the launch of Tier 4. Tier 3 was what players came to know and we all powered through Legion Raids, so it was cool to see that saga come to a close with Tier 4, mixing things up and letting us have big damage!”

The Tier 4 gear progression upgrade was a highlight of 2024 for Lost Ark, and substantially changed the way players approached the game. A common theme for both Amazon Games and Smilegate RPG last year was experimentation and mixing things up in the game. “I am really proud of a lot of things that the team was able to accomplish in 2024 and a lot of it was trying new things and seeing what worked or didn’t work,” said Huston. “If I had to be more specific, I would say solo raids or the Tier 4 launch. I’ve really enjoyed seeing player progression and discussions around solo raids and how it has helped a portion of the player base continue progression, even if it’s behind the curve.”

Smilegate RPG echoed the sentiment that experimentation led to some of the most exciting moments of 2024. “The highlight of last year, we feel, is that Hyper Awakening and Tier 4 was introduced at the same time in the same update,” the developers said. Both features brought huge changes to the Lost Ark combat system, but they were introduced in separate updates in Korea. After observing how Korean players experienced each update, the developers came to the conclusion that adding these two systems in the West at the same time would provide a much better experience for players. “Usually when updating such large systems, we consider the amount of work and time required and we follow the same update cadence as Korea,” said Smilegate RPG. “But for the West, we made the bold decision to introduce these two systems to players as soon as possible. It wasn’t easy to prepare Tier 4 and the Hyper Awakening update at the same time, but it was a very rewarding moment to see adventurers so happy about it.”

Lost Ark continues to evolve based on global data and the feedback from players around the world. As new content and systems are introduced to the game, older content is changed or removed to make room for new experiences, resulting in a game that grows along with the community playing it. Player progression, for example, has been reworked and streamlined many times since that launch in 2022, and continues to adjust based on direct input from players. New content for 2025 has already been announced and is just around the corner, and there’s more to be excited about as Lost Ark moves into its fourth year in the West. “Our biggest opportunity in 2025 is going to be expanding on existing systems and how we engage with the player base,” said Huston. “We do actively listen and are looking at new ways to engage players as we aim to alleviate pain points and concerns.”

Sabo agreed. “With new systems already coming into play to kick off the year like the newly-developed Frontier System, we’re looking for more opportunities to continue to engage with players, get feedback, and hold discussions to see what else we can make happen in the future,” she said.

With 2025 already shaping up to be another exciting year for Lost Ark players, everyone seems to have something they’re particularly excited for. And that includes the teams at Amazon Games and Smilegate RPG. “I look forward to future discussions, roadmap videos that showcase what we’re discussing and working on, and continuing to add on to Lost Ark in its fourth year,” said Huston.

“With our version of Lost Ark being functionally caught up to Korea, it means that everything in the pipeline for the game is essentially brand new, and I find this to be super exciting!” Sabo added. “Smilegate RPG has been hard at work coming up with new pieces of content, and I can’t wait to see what they come up with that we’ll get to bring to our players. And while we don’t have timing for it confirmed yet, how about that female Paladin!? She’s one of the first awesome examples of this.”

Smilegate RPG is also excited about the future, while looking back fondly at how far Lost Ark has come. “Lost Ark has added many exclusive features and systems for Western services since its launch. Of course, we will continue doing so this year,” the developers said. “The biggest driving force that helps us keep making these things is the feedback from our adventurers. Our team recently replayed and watched the Western launch trailer of Lost Ark together. We still remember the atmosphere in the studio when we were preparing for the launch, with both fear and trembling, wondering how the game would be received in Western regions, right before the launch. Of course, there were times when our intentions were not properly conveyed during the live service, sometimes there were also other times when our judgment was not always the best for our adventurers, but we promise that we will continue to work hard to build on Lost Ark and provide our players with the joy of playing role playing games.”

The passion that Smilegate RPG and Amazon Games have in creating new content and experiences in Lost Ark matches the passion of the game’s players around the world, who are eagerly awaiting what comes next. One upcoming update actually features both Sabo and Huston. “This February, to celebrate our third anniversary, we have prepared a Western-only event featuring ROXX and MATTHEW, and we hope it will be a surprise gift for our players,” said Smilegate. “We are still thinking about and preparing many things for the Western service, so please continue enjoying Lost Ark and we will always have our eyes open to opinions from our players.”

Check out this post over at the official Lost Ark website that details the many ways in which Lost Ark players can celebrate its third anniversary, along with a fascinating recap of Year 3 and what the community accomplished.