Amazon is parting ways with two MMOs, Lost Ark and Throne and Liberty, returning them back to their respective developers by early 2027.
Announced earlier today, the global publishing service of Throne and Liberty is transitioning from Amazon Game Studios to NC’s own online publishing services by the end of Q4 2026. As for Lost Ark, Amazon will end its live service operations in early 2027, with Smilegate taking over going forward.
For Throne and Liberty, NC is working with developer FirstSpark Games, also an NC studio, to unify the global audience under a single online service.
“Amazon Game Studios has been an excellent partner, and we’re grateful to have launched and maintained our MMO thus far with their team,” said FirstSpark Games CEO Moonyoung Choi in a press release. “Taking a more direct role in global publishing makes so much sense for us, and so we’re thrilled to lead the next chapter of Throne and Liberty directly as NC.”
Smilegate shared a similar sentiment around Lost Ark, calling the act of handing the game back to the developers a “positive outcome” for players.
“To every developer, community manager, support specialist, localization expert, and team member who worked behind the scenes on both sides of this partnership: thank you,” Smilegate’s announcement reads. “Your dedication, late nights, and genuine passion made this game what it was.”
While service for both games will continue, Amazon’s own dedication to MMOs isn’t as certain. Along with the aforementioned titles, the company ended active development on New World: Aeternum at the end of last year.
At the time, Steve Boom, vice president of Amazon audio, Twitch, and games, reportedly said the company had made the “difficult decision to halt a significant amount of our first-party AAA game development work,” specifically around MMOs, within Amazon Game Studios. In the same memo to staff, Boom reportedly mentioned Throne and Liberty and Lost Ark as MMOs that it was still invested in as publisher.
With the departure of Amazon Game Studios boss Cristoph Hartmann, the company reportedly started retreating from the PC and console video game space in favor of Luna. Three months later, the company announced it was downscaling the video game service.
The news came amidst the shuttering of UGC dungeon brawler King of Meat after six months, the ditching of an upcoming open-world racer by Maverick Games, and continuous layoffs at Embracer-owned Crystal Dynamics, which Amazon has been collaborating with as publisher of the upcoming Tomb Raider games.