Amazon postpones the EU launch of Lost Ark, but you can still play it in 2021, thanks to Closed Beta.
Lost Ark would have had the potential to become the biggest action role-playing game of the year in 2021, even in Europe. But now it can only achieve this feat in 2022 at the most, because publisher Amazon has postponed the release of the EU version of Lost Ark: to the beginning of 2022.
At the same time, there’s good news: You can play the hack & slay with MMORPG elements, which is already available in Korea, Japan and Russia, as early as this year. The closed beta of Lost Ark now has a definite start date: from 4 to 9 November 2021, selected players should be able to start slaughtering in the beta.
Why Amazon is delaying the release of Lost Ark
In a Twitter message, Amazon Games gave three reasons why Lost Ark will no longer be released in 2021.
– In evaluating feedback from the Lost Ark alpha test, they said they realised that there is still “a lot of work needed to ensure Lost Ark reaches the high quality level our players deserve at launch. ”
– Amazon wants to incorporate recent changes to the Korean version of Lost Ark, which is always kept up to date by developer Smilegate, into the EU release. Amazon Games does not mention what exactly these changes are.
– At least through the grapevine, it is implied that avoiding crunch was also a reason for delaying the release. “We want to take the time to get it right while ensuring the well-being of our hard-working teams at Amazon Games and Smilegate.” If you read between the lines, you can infer that a lot of overtime would have been incurred for a 2021 launch. This industry-wide crunch is a health hazard.
Please read this letter regarding Lost Ark's Closed Beta and Official Launch. pic.twitter.com/jSSnrrxk6w
— Lost Ark (@PlayLostArk) September 1, 2021
What you need to know about the closed beta launch of Lost Ark in Europe
In the same Twitter post, Amazon Games announced that Lost Ark’s closed beta test, originally announced for July, will now start on November 4. It will run until 9 November and interested players can still sign up for a chance to win a beta key on the official website.
Access to the closed beta is also guaranteed for all purchasers of a Lost Ark Founder Pack. Those paid packs are suspected of enabling Pay2Win in the otherwise free Free2Play MMORPG. We investigated and spoke to a Lost Ark player about what’s up with the allegations.
Last but not least, the message on Lost Ark’s Twitter account talks about wanting to inform players more transparently about the development progress in the future after the relative radio silence in recent weeks.
We have summarised the known information about classes, system requirements and more about Lost Ark for you in a clear overview.
Amazon Games promises monthly updates in the future, which will give a look behind the scenes, where, according to the developers, the server infrastructure has been built up, the text avalanche in the game has been translated and English voice output has been recorded in the sound studio. In October, the starting signal for the official forum and a Discord channel for Lost Ark will be given.
