Shroud explains how Lost Ark and New World both “scare people away”

Michael ‘shroud’ Grzesiek explained how Lost Ark and New World both have elements that “scare people away,” and although they’re different, it could result in them having the same fate.

Lost Ark and New World both enjoyed huge success at their peak. The former almost broke records in terms of concurrent players and viewership, while the latter was so popular that its servers were inundated for weeks.

However, they’re no longer in their prime. Shroud has dabbled in them both, and he believes a contributing factor in their decline is something they have in common — having elements that “scare people away.”

First, he touched on New World.“Because of all the exploits that existed and happened, nobody really wanted to play New World once they saw that everybody was cheating,” he said. Then, he drew a parallel to Lost Ark.

“It’s kind of like Lost Ark, right? The pay-to-win elements in Lost Ark affect the game a lot. More than you think. Like, it’s still doing great, and it will continue to do great. But pay-to-win mechanics will scare people away.”

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However, he reiterated that it’s more about the cheating shenanigans in New World’s case. “In New World, what scared people away was that everybody wasn’t playing legit. They were all exploiting and duplicating.”

Of course, even if people are being scared away from both games, Lost Ark’s player base is much healthier than New World’s. It’s averaged more than 300,000 concurrent players compared to 20,000 on New World.

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Still, its popularity is declining fast. It’s down 30% in April compared to March and 50% compared to February. It could have the same fate as New World if something doesn’t change in terms of its pay-to-win features.