Amazon is handing Lost Ark and Throne and Liberty back to their developers, leaving the MMO business entirely

The details:

• For Throne and Liberty, the handover should be largely seamless for players. The game will remain available on Steam, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S, and in-game accounts will carry over. Customer support and related services will shift from Amazon to NC, which also handles Guild Wars and several other large-scale online games.
• Lost Ark players will lose in-game communication history and player nicknames as part of the transition, but the game will continue operating in the West under Smilegate, its original developer.
• Amazon's departure from MMOs follows the shutdown of New World, which stopped receiving content updates after a round of studio layoffs, with servers set to close in 2027. Amazon also cancelled its internally developed Lord of the Rings MMO in May 2026.
• Unlike New World, both Throne and Liberty and Lost Ark are surviving the handover, with their original developers taking ownership rather than the games being shut down.

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