Amazon Leaves the MMO Business: What Happens to Lost Ark and Throne and Liberty?
Amazon Games is stepping away from the direct operation of two major MMORPGs — Lost Ark and Throne and Liberty.
The news looks much more serious than an ordinary publisher change. Amazon spent several years trying to establish itself in the market for major online games, but the company is now handing both of these MMO titles back to the companies that created them.
There is, however, one important detail that can easily get lost in the headlines:
Lost Ark and Throne and Liberty are not shutting down.
This is a transfer of Western publishing and operational responsibilities. Throne and Liberty is expected to transition to NC and FirstSpark Games in the fourth quarter of 2026, while Lost Ark will return to Smilegate in early 2027.
And this raises a much more interesting question: what does the change actually mean for the players?
Is Amazon really leaving the MMO business?
If we are talking specifically about the direct operation of major MMOs, then yes, Amazon is clearly reducing its presence in this area.
Amazon Games has been steadily scaling back its involvement in the genre. The company has already announced the end of support for its own MMO, New World: sales have been stopped, and the servers are scheduled to shut down permanently on January 31, 2027.
Now Amazon is also handing over the two major MMOs it previously published in the West.
As a result, Lost Ark and Throne and Liberty will continue without Amazon as their Western publisher.
But this is fundamentally different from what is happening with New World.
In the case of New World, the servers really are being shut down.
In the case of Lost Ark and Throne and Liberty, the opposite is happening: the games are continuing, but their operation is being transferred to other companies.
Therefore, calling this the "shutdown of two MMOs" would be misleading.
A much more accurate description is Amazon's exit from their Western operations.
What will happen to Throne and Liberty?
Throne and Liberty will be the first of the two games to change operators.
In the fourth quarter of 2026, Western operations will be transferred to NC and FirstSpark Games. FirstSpark is closely connected to the game's development, while NC will gain the ability to manage the global service more directly instead of relying on Amazon.
For players, the main change will be the company responsible for operations, customer support and the future development of the Western version.
The most important point is that the transition does not mean players have to start the game from scratch.
The developers have indicated that the service will continue, and core game progress is expected to be preserved.
And that makes sense.
Throne and Liberty is an active MMORPG with an established player base. Shutting it down simply because of a publisher transition would make little sense, especially when the original developer is prepared to take over its continued operation.
But there is a question that concerns players much more than the servers.
What will actually change in the game?
This is where there is currently no definitive answer.
NC will have much more direct control over the global version. In theory, this could lead to closer synchronization between the Western and Asian versions of the game.
But there is also a potential risk.
Western players have become accustomed to a particular approach to monetization, update schedules and community management. If the developer decides to move the Western version closer to its Korean business model, the reaction from players could be mixed.
However, this is currently speculation, not an announced plan from NC.
So it would be premature to claim that Throne and Liberty will definitely become more heavily monetized — or, on the contrary, more player-friendly.
We will need to see the first decisions made by the new operator.
Lost Ark gets an even more interesting twist
While Throne and Liberty is still relatively young in the Western market, Lost Ark is in a completely different situation.
The Western release of Lost Ark took place back in 2022. Since then, the game has experienced an enormous launch, a significant decline in its player base and several major changes to its progression systems.
Amazon has handled Western publishing for several years, while Smilegate has remained responsible for developing Lost Ark.
Now that arrangement is coming to an end.
In early 2027, the Western version of Lost Ark will be transferred directly to Smilegate.
And this could become the most interesting part of the entire story.
Why could Lost Ark's return to Smilegate be important?
Until now, the Western version of the game has effectively existed between two parties.
Smilegate was responsible for creating and developing the game, while Amazon handled Western publishing, operations and communication with the local audience.
After the transition, the developer will have significantly more direct control over the Western service.
That could potentially make decision-making easier.
Instead of coordinating every major issue between the developer and a separate Western publisher, the company creating the game will be able to determine the future direction of the global version more directly.
But again, there is no reason to assume that everything will automatically improve.
Being the game's developer does not automatically make a company a better publisher.
Smilegate has enormous experience with Lost Ark, but the Western market has its own expectations.
Players in Europe and North America pay close attention to monetization, communication with the community, the speed at which problems are fixed and how new and returning players are treated.
Those will be the areas that determine whether the transition becomes an advantage.
What will happen to accounts and player progress?
This is one of the most important questions for players.
According to the information released so far, the transition is not expected to result in the loss of core game progress. This includes characters, progression, items and other key game data.
However, Lost Ark does have some important exceptions.
Certain communication-related data will not be transferred. Players should pay particular attention to their in-game mail and other data connected to communication systems.
For that reason, Lost Ark players should check their in-game mail and save any important information before the transition.
That is much more useful than simply panicking over the publisher change.
Why did Amazon decide to leave?
This is where the story becomes less about two individual games and more about Amazon Games itself.
For several years, Amazon tried to establish a serious presence in the gaming industry.
New World was supposed to become Amazon's own major MMO.
Lost Ark gave Amazon access to a huge Western audience.
Throne and Liberty represented another attempt to establish the company as a major player in the online gaming market.
But the strategy has now changed.
Amazon is gradually reducing its involvement in large-scale MMO projects and reallocating resources toward other areas of the gaming industry.
The company has now effectively closed another chapter of its current MMO strategy by handing over these two major titles.
What makes the situation particularly interesting is the comparison with New World.
New World is being shut down, while Lost Ark and Throne and Liberty are being transferred to their developers.
This suggests that Amazon is not simply abandoning two unsuccessful games.
The company appears to be reconsidering the entire model of long-term operation of major MMOs.
Why didn't Amazon shut down Lost Ark and Throne and Liberty?
Because both games have something New World currently does not: original developers who are willing to continue operating them.
For Amazon, transferring the projects may be much more rational than continuing to finance its own operational teams.
For the developers, the move also makes sense.
They gain more direct access to their audience and greater control over their own products.
And for players, there is one major advantage:
the games have a chance to continue without Amazon.
Is this the end of an era or a second chance?
At this point, I would not describe what is happening as the end of Lost Ark or Throne and Liberty.
It is more accurately a turning point.
Both games already have established audiences, infrastructure and a large amount of existing content.
But now the developers have to prove that they can operate the global versions of their projects themselves.
And there are two very different possible scenarios.
The first is positive.
NC and Smilegate could use their increased control to improve communication with players, optimize monetization, make decisions faster and provide a more consistent development strategy.
In that case, Amazon's departure could become a genuine second chance for both MMOs.
The second scenario is negative.
If the developers move the Western versions too close to their regional business models, make conditions worse for Western players or fail to operate the global services effectively, the player bases could continue to decline.
That is why it is impossible to honestly say right now whether Amazon's departure is good or bad news.
It will depend not on the publisher change itself, but on what NC and Smilegate actually do after gaining full control.
What does this mean for players?
For the average player, the situation is much less alarming than the headlines might suggest.
If you play Throne and Liberty, there is no reason to abandon your character simply because Amazon is leaving.
If you play Lost Ark, there is currently no reason to assume that the game will suddenly disappear in early 2027.
On the contrary, both original developers have a clear interest in continuing their projects.
However, the transition period will still be important.
Players should watch the official announcements regarding account transfers, new terms of service, the in-game store and customer support.
Lost Ark players in particular should pay close attention, since some auxiliary data will not be transferred.
Our conclusion
At Garant Market, we do not believe this news should be interpreted as "Amazon has shut down two MMOs."
That would be incorrect.
A more accurate description is:
Amazon is leaving the operation of Lost Ark and Throne and Liberty, while the games themselves are receiving new operators.
Throne and Liberty will move under the management of NC and FirstSpark Games in late 2026.
Lost Ark will return to Smilegate in early 2027.
New World, meanwhile, is genuinely heading toward shutdown — and that is what shows just how seriously Amazon is changing its strategy toward MMOs.
For Lost Ark and Throne and Liberty players, the most important thing right now is not to panic, but to watch what happens after the transition.
Amazon may have reached the end of its current MMO strategy. But for Lost Ark and Throne and Liberty, the story is far from over.
And perhaps the most interesting chapter is only beginning.
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This article was prepared by the Garant Market editorial team.
Source: garantmarket.net
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