Twitch streamer explains why New World and Lost Ark lost so many players on Steam

Twitch streamer Michael “shroud” Grzesiek became known through shooters, but has increasingly played MMORPGs such as New World, Lost Ark and WoW in recent months. In a live stream, he now explained where the weaknesses of the two newest titles on the market lie. The reasons mentioned certainly play a role, but are not everything.

What happened to the two MMORPGs?

• New World started in September 2021 with a huge hype. At the peak, over 900,000 people played the MMORPG at the same time. This makes it the 7th place in the list of games with the most players on Steam.
• Lost Ark, on the other hand, launched in February 2022 and generated even more hype. The game benefited from the fact that it is Free2Play, which means that there is no need to buy the game in advance. It is ranked #2 on Steam with over 1.3 million concurrent players.
• However, both MMORPGs have significantly decreased in numbers in the months after release. Two months after release, New World only had 177,000 players at its peak (about 20% of the release numbers) and Lost Ark still had 416,000 (about 30%).

The streamer shroud followed both games live on Twitch for several hundred hours. With more than 480 hours, New World even ranks second in the most streamed games in the last 365 days – just behind Valorant (via Sullygnome).

In a new live stream, he then explained why he thinks the two games are failing and why Lost Ark could face a fate similar to New World.

Cheating and Pay2Win discourage old and new players

What exactly is shroud saying? First, the streamer talks about New World. When asked how a large crowd of players could return to the MMORPG, he replied:

Bring some new updates and then shut down and restart New World once. Or completely new servers. I think new servers are important for New World once they fix the game and it’s in a better status.

Because of all the exploits that were out there and happening nobody really wanted to play New World when they saw everyone was cheating.

He further explained that many players were so put off by all the bugs and cheats that they don’t even want to start or go back to New World.

There were actually dozens of exploits in New World, including gold dupes, item dupes, and even an invulnerability glitch that also worked in PvP.

He also draws a bow to Lost Ark and the Pay2Win allegations:

It’s a bit like Lost Ark, isn’t it? The pay-to-win elements in Lost Ark have a major impact on the game. More than you think. It’s still going well and will continue to do well. But the “pay2win” mechanic will put people off.

What is Pay2Win in Lost Ark all about? In Lost Ark you can buy a number of little things in the shop that bring advantages, including the crystalline aura or the additional completion of daily quests.

However, many criticize the game for a hidden Pay2Win through a back door. Because upgrading equipment requires a lot of materials – and there can also be failures. You can farm these materials, but you can also buy them from other players.

So whales can exchange their real money for in-game gold and thus buy the goods from the marketplace. If you invest a lot, you will make faster progress here.

Players try new MMORPGs and leave if they don’t like it

Are cheaters, exploits and Pay2Win the only reasons? No, they’re mostly problems that hardcore gamers and hardcore fans see. Many casual gamers simply try out a new MMORPG and see if they like it in terms of gameplay and content.

They just leave if they don’t like the game. Especially with Free2Play titles like Lost Ark, a large fluctuation is common.

However, such players rarely take notice of problems in the economy or Pay2Win. They don’t delve deep enough to come across these mechanics or simply don’t care as long as they enjoy the MMORPG themselves.

New World in particular had problems keeping the players on the ball at the beginning because a lot of content was simply missing or not fully thought through.

Why do you think the two MMORPGs have lost so much player numbers? And what do you think needs to change for you to return to the titles? Feel free to write it in the comments.

You can find out more about the current development of New World here in this special:

6 months after release, New World is still my top MMORPG