South Korean developer Smilegate will take over Lost Ark in early 2027, and the studio plans to eventually sync content between Korea and the West.
Amazon is getting out of the MMO game and is transferring operations of Lost Ark to the game's original developer, Smilegate. Details of the upcoming transition have been outlined, informing players on what they can expect.
Popular Now: MAXSUN removes the PCIe x16 slot from a Z890 Mini-ITX motherboard and routes the GPU over MCIO insteadUsers have the choice to opt out of the transition, but their characters and data will be wiped. Some things will transfer over, like preset names, stronghold names, map and combat memos, and more. Other things, like friends list memos, in-game mail, and chat messages and chat history will not transfer over and will not be kept. Active subscriptions for the Amazon version of Lost Ark, such as Crystalline Aura, will be cancelled before the Smilegate transition.
"When the transition happens, your account data will be transferred to Smilegate's service automatically. Your characters, progression, and items remain intact on servers owned and managed by Smilegate going forward."
As for content, it's tough to keep two different versions of the same MMORPG going for two separate markets, so the idea here is to better unify the Korean and Western versions of Lost Ark insofar as content and server updates.
Smilegate explains in a post on the Onstove website:
"That's why we are working to gradually bring our content update timing closer to the Korean service, with the ultimate goal of making it possible for you to play the same content at the same time. That said, we do not intend to close this gap all at once. If we tried to force the accumulated distance shut in one stroke, we believe it could put real strain on your progression and on the rhythm at which you enjoy new content. So rather than rushing to erase the gap, we want to narrow it step-by-step, carefully, while paying close attention to how you actually play.
"This is not an easy undertaking. Development, translation, localization, and balance adjustments all have to be aligned within a single pipeline, and internally we are still working through a great deal of deliberation and trial and error. We're taking it on anyway, because we want to reach a point where you are no longer left waiting on news out of Korea."
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