Amazon Drops MMOs

Amazon Game Studios will no longer publish Lost Ark or Throne and Liberty, according to Polygon. This decision is part of the company's shift in focus to other games, such as Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis. The news was confirmed through blog posts on both MMOs' websites.

Throne and Liberty will be the first to lose Amazon Game Studios as its publisher, with the transition happening in Q4 2026, Polygon reported. After the transition, publishing duties will revert to FirstSpark Games and NC, and players will retain access to their pre-existing characters and accounts on PC and consoles, unless they opt out of having their data transferred to NC.

Lost Ark will follow suit in early 2027, with developer Smilegate handling western publishing duties, according to Polygon. When the transition from Amazon to Smilegate occurs, Lost Ark players will retain their progression and account information, but will lose access to certain data, such as in-game mail and chat history, unless they opt out of the data transfer.

Amazon Game Studios had positioned itself as a major MMO publisher in the early 2020s, releasing New World and helping bring Asian MMOs like Lost Ark and Throne and Liberty to North America and Europe, Polygon noted. However, the company began divesting from its gaming efforts last October and has since set an end-of-service date for New World and shut down King of Meat.