Once considered the next big competitor in the MMORPG space, Amazon Game Studios is now exiting the scene entirely. The massive publisher started their journey with Lost Ark, only to create New World and adapt NC’s Throne and Liberty to the West. They were even working on a new Lord of the Rings MMORPG.
Unfortunately, it looks like Amazon has no more interest in the space as they have announced today that they will be reverting both Lost Ark and Throne and Liberty back to their respective developers. This means that Lost Ark will go back to Smilegate while Throne and Liberty will be handled by NC.
Lost Ark
Starting off with what really put Amazon on the map, with one of the most successful launches of all time on Steam, and even being the top seller for multiple years in a row, Lost Ark will cease being published by Amazon and will be transferred under the original developer Smilegate.
This isn’t a huge shock to many Lost Ark players as it's something that has been highly speculated ever since Amazon Game Studios stopped selling their annual Crystalline Aura subscription one year before the fifth anniversary. That’s on top of various job postings for Smilegate involving western communications. Players have been expecting this announcement for quite some time.
With that said, it’s sad to see Lost Ark go through a change such as this. Despite the first few years under Amazon being a bit rocky, 2025 saw a huge improvement in communications and overall feedback.
With that said, Lost Ark’s player base has been slipping at a consistent pace, with it sitting between three and seven thousand concurrent players most days, a far cry from what it was even two years ago.
The process will occur in early 2027 with almost everything players have in Lost Ark being transferred over. There are some exceptions, though:
- In-game mail (titles and body content)
- Friends list memos and group names
- Blacklist memos
- Guild member nicknames and memos
- Stronghold gift messages and quiz data
- Chat message and chat history
Along with this, Amazon will no longer be handling the Lost Ark social accounts and the official site will be taken over by Smilegate.
This isn’t a huge shock to many Lost Ark players as it's something that has been highly speculated...
Throne and Liberty
As for Throne and Liberty, this is another game that has not faired too well over months, as its release two years ago was met with a lot of excitement, but this was quickly quelled. It was surprising NC wasn’t publishing this directly to begin with, given that they had success with Guild Wars in the past, but regardless, Amazon took up the reigns to bring it over.
"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. "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."
The process of transferring Throne and Liberty to NC will occur by the end of the year, with the publisher promising “no changes to their current gameplay environment or assets.” Game data and assets will be preserved, along with any Lucent the player holds.
Players will need to accept new terms of service, but for the most part, there likely won’t be any major changes when the transfer goes through.
Amazon has struggled over the last five years to get a foothold in the games' industry, likely because of their focus on the MMORPG space. They have diversified themselves a little better with an in-house developed New World followed up by the very popular Lost Ark. Still, it’s sad to see it not work out, but maybe this is the change the games need for the long run.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 82/100 Critics Rec: 85%
- Released
- December 4, 2019
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Language, Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Smilegate RPG
- Publisher(s)
- Amazon Games
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 3
- Multiplayer
- Online Co-Op, Online Multiplayer
- Genre(s)
- MMORPG
