Pmang which publishes Lost Ark in Japan, announced they will shutting down Lost Ark on March 20th.
As the announcement notes, they began servicing the game since September 2020. As is pretty much standard boiler plate PR for Pmang (when it comes to announcements like this), they noted that after discussions with the developer (Smilegate RPG), they determined that it would be difficult to provide the level of service that would be satisfactory for their player-customers. This is pretty much a nice way to say that the player base has dwindled to a point where it’s no longer sustainable (to both players as well as Pmang).
This also isn’t surprising to me though. For one, Japan gaming is still more heavily dominated by console. It’s been a constant challenge for PC MMO’s outside of domestic created ones (like the ones in the Final Fantasy franchise) to gain traction/have staying power. Blizzard never released an actual Japanese version for World of Warcraft (Japan was never a major demographic for Blizzard because their own research probably revealed what’s actually popular there across various platforms). While there is no official Japanese client, people can still play the game (they just need to play on one of the other regions servers). But because one of the biggest PC MMO’s was never really a big thing in Japan, it didn’t drive that sort of gaming in Japan (plus MMO’s in general, tend to require a lot of dedicated time which doesn’t really jive with a country that has a work culture environment that emphasizes “long hours” even if some of that is just “air”).
Ironically, Diablo II was huge with a specific demographic in Japan (those who were heavily into D&D, rogue-likes, and dungeon crawlers). And when a Japanese company purchased the rights to the Wizardry franchise, that also turned into a hit with a cult following. Basically, adventure/fantasy/role playing with really simple elements, are still popular even today because of how old school JRPG’s were designed (the ones that were heavily text based with a lot of decision tree branches in the game play).
Then you have to also factor in mobile which is a natural in the county because it’s a perfect form factor for a population that’s “on the go” with the high utilization of public transportation (due to the ubiquitous nature of the rail system in many major cities). Then there’s also the type of games that are popular; it runs the gambit like any other country including first person shooters, fighting style titles, visual novels, adventure story and role playing games, etc. Another consideration are the design/systems in a KMMO. Generally speaking, Lost Ark doesn’t have certain elements in it that would grab the less than hardcore niche in Japan (where the “kawaii” cute factor comes into play).
There’s a reason why another PC KMMO was popular in Japan for a decade and had staying power until the very end. I am talking about TERA. It wasn’t just solely the Elin; it was also the cosmetics. While in the west, some of this was derided (the connotations of the race being synonymous with a young girl while a lot of the more recent cosmetics and mounts being immersion breaking in nature), the race was seen as cute (and fits in with the kawaii culture in the country). It’s hard to explain to those who aren’t into the country but look at how things like items/food are depicted (often times a cartoon with a smiley face), or how cities have their own “yura-kyra” or character mascots that represent something of importance to the area. This visually softer imagery permeates graphic design in the country. The wacky costumes across all the different races and immersion breaking mounts just added to the whole unserious nature of the game where it just resonated with a niche demographic (and sustained the game until it’s closure in April 2022).
Though the Japan region was the last one to close for Elyon in September 2023 (also from Krafton/Bluehole), it didn’t last long in Japan because while it simply lacked just so many things that would be appealing to a general MMO player, the game was also devoid of that quirky thing that TERA happened to have (it also didn’t that the game play itself was really generic and unmemorable when compared to TERA’s combat).
While Lost Ark has some of this, it just doesn’t come across the same way (the isometric camera doesn’t help any either). And some of my personal grievances about the game that I’ve noted on this blog, applies to the Japanese server where it’s not going to attract and retain this other demographic who want some RP aspects of the game to come across as more immersive in nature. Lost Ark does not really do that well plus the time commitment for end game that was required during the months following the launch window phase of the game, isn’t the sort of thing that would resonate with many. Yes, I know I am generalizing to a degree, but there are these very subtle behaviors that aren’t easy to explain unless you’ve lived/been part of gaming in the country for a few years (and yes, there are also differences between city dwellers, those who live in the suburbs, and those who live in the country in terms of what is consumed for entertainment).
