Amazon Games recently localized and published the Western version of Korean MMORPG Lost Ark to huge success, but two common criticisms of the game have been its gender-locked classes and revealing female outfits (with few alternative options). Both of these complaints will be addressed over time, according to Amazon.
In Lost Ark, many advanced classes are gender-specific. Only male characters can be Paladins, Berserkers, and Gunlancers. Magic focused characters, like the Bard and Sorceress, are female-only. While some class archetypes, like the Gunner, do have male and female versions, the male-only Deadeye and the female Gunslinger are not identical and feature unique abilities.
Speaking with Eurogamer, Amazon Games franchise lead Soomin Park said Korean developer Smilegate RPG is working to bring male and female versions for many of Lost Ark’s classes over time, and that Amazon made an effort to include as many classes with both male and female options as possible for the game’s Western launch.
“This is something that will roll out over time,” Park said. “Classes are tied pretty closely to their character models in terms of function and animation, so bringing opposite gender characters to a class takes more work than just making a differently gendered model available.”
Park notes that the female version of the Berserker is set to be the next class to be released in Korea. It’s unclear if the female version of the Berserker will play identically to its male counterpart, or if it will be a unique class with the same name.
When it comes to many of the game’s more revealing armor sets and outfits for female characters, Park said Amazon and Smilegate are looking to strike a balance between the game’s hardcore fans who want the Western release to be as close to the Korean version as possible and players who might be turned-off by some of the current armor and costume options. As a result, Smilegate RPG will be adding new, less-revealing options, while still keeping the game’s original costumes and armor sets intact.
“As for armor sets, while we aren’t altering any of the original costumes from the game, we are making adjustments so that the more revealing options won’t be front and center in places like our marketing or the initial character creation screen (although the original character creator outfits are still available in-game as early drops),” Park said.
Lost Ark will be receiving its first major endgame content update later this month, as Amazon looks to start bringing content from the Korean version, which launched in 2019, to Western audiences. Amazon recently announced that it has banned over 1 million bot accounts from Lost Ark in its efforts to crack down on gold sellers and spam accounts. Lost Ark became the second most-played game of all time on Steam shortly after its launch, reaching more than 1.3 million concurrent players.
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