Lost Ark is censored in the western release, characters made more “diverse”

Lost Ark

We’ve learned Lost Ark is censored in the western release, which has been published in the west by Amazon Games and has become the recent subject of controversy.

This controversy stirred up by the news that Lost Ark is censored comes from changes fans have noted between the Korean/Russian versions of the game, and the localization provided by Amazon. So what’s changed exactly?


The largest of these changes have been catalogued by Twitter users, via YouTuber LOWE and others. The most immediately noticeable change has been the alteration of starting outfits for some of the female player characters, as seen above.

Amazon has addressed this particular issue and has clarified by claiming that while the starting outfits have changed, the more revealing clothing models still exist in the game as drops.

Original outfits have not been removed, they are just not as front and center and we have added in additional options for players.

The largest and most impactful change is the alteration of various NPCs to allegedly address concerns regarding the game’s representation.

According to the artwork for collectible in-game cards, multiple characters have been changed in an effort to produce a more “diverse” product for western audiences.

Lastly, many of the default character presets for customizations have been changed to provide more diverse starting options. This example is the least egregious and doesn’t particularly qualify as censorship, but fans consider it worth mentioning.

As far as we’re aware (via producing our review on the game), despite these changes to the preset customizations, every customization option from the Korean/Russian versions are still accessible.

What do you think? Are these changes a deal breaker for Lost Ark, Amazon’s latest game publishing venture? Let us know in the comments!

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A basement-dwelling ogre, Brandon's a fan of indie games and slice of life anime. Has too many games and not enough time.


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