Amazon Games will publish a game developed by South Korean Smilegate RPG, a division of Smilegate, at some point next year. The announcement came earlier today, with more details due to be released at a later date.
Christoph Hartmann, VP of Amazon Games, said:
Amazon Games is committed to bringing our customers the most engaging game experiences, both through our own internal development teams and from the very best external development studios around the world. Smilegate has a strong track record of creating big games that players love, built to offer years of enjoyment — exactly the type of best-in-class, living, growing online games we want to bring our customers.Chi Won Gil, CEO of Smilegate RPG, added:
Smilegate RPG and Amazon Games will combine our respective expertise to introduce one of our AAA games to Western players. Amazon Games is uniquely positioned as a publisher to reach entirely new audiences through its deep commitment to customers and substantial games publishing resources and channels, including Twitch, Prime Gaming, AWS, and more.Unless Smilegate RPG has been secretly crafting a big new game in the past few years, chances are this is actually Lost Ark, an MMORPG that features Diablo-like gameplay with MMO elements such as Guilds, Raids, PvP, and more.
About eight months ago we reported that job openings on Smilegate's website hinted at an upcoming Western release, and it looks like that is finally coming to pass. Fans who have been long waiting for the game's release also recently noted that the class gender lock has been removed, which appears to be another sign that Lost Ark is indeed being prepared for a global release.
It looks like Amazon Games (which is already working on New World, whose preview test begins next week, and the new Lord of the Rings MMORPG) has been picked up as the publisher after much deliberation, though we'll have to wait for more details to learn about the timing. Meanwhile, check out the Lost Ark Season 2 trailer below.
