Amazon Responds to Lost Ark Gender Representation Criticisms

Amazon Games has responded to criticisms over gender representation in Lost Ark - specifically that of gender-locked classes and female character armor.

Despite Lost Ark's success, many have expressed their concern over the ways the game has so far handled gender. Classes in Lost Ark are currently gender-locked, meaning that only certain genders can be a specific class. As is stands, only men can be Warriors and only women can be Mages or Assassins.

Additionally, many players have voiced their disappointment over the revealing nature of many of Lost Ark's female character armor sets. It's a problem we've been seeing for some time, and one that feels surprising to still be present; male characters are dressed in full, intricate armor, so much so that you wonder how they even move. Female characters, on the other hand, are often given gravity-defying armor that doesn't even protect them from a harsh wind.

It seems that Amazon Games is looking to make some changes, albeit small ones. In a statement to Eurogamer, Amazon Games' franchise lead Soomin Park said of the gender-locked classes: "Smilegate RPG is actively working on this; the female Berserker is the next class coming to Korea. While not every class in the game currently has a male and female counterpart available, we made an effort to include those that do in our launch class lineup."

"In the future, Smilegate RPG will be creating more counterparts for classes that are still gender locked, and we will bring these to Arkesia in time."

As for the revealing armor, well, it seems minor changes are coming. Park continued, "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 centre in places like our marketing or the initial character creation screen."

"We are also including in some new outfit options that are not quite as revealing, but these are an addition and not a replacement."

Lost Ark is a free-to-play 2.5D MMOARPG, available now on Windows PC.