# Amazon are getting out of the MMO game, handing control of Lost Ark and Throne and Liberty to developers, but it won’t all be smooth for players

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/amazon-are-getting-out-of-the-mmo-game-handing-control-of-lost-ark-and-throne-and-liberty-to-developers-but-it-wont-all-be-smooth-for-players/
- Published: 2026-08-12T17:00:39+00:00
- Updated: 2026-08-12T23:13:04+00:00
- Original publisher: Rock Paper Shotgun
- Original article: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/amazon-are-getting-out-of-the-mmo-game-handing-control-of-lost-ark-and-throne-and-liberty-to-developers-but-it-wont-all-be-smooth-for-players
- Topics: Asia, Entertainment, Gaming, Software, Technology

## Key points

- Amazon transfers Lost Ark and Throne and Liberty operations to their developers.
- Lost Ark players will lose some account history and face subscription cancellation.
- Both MMOs will continue despite Amazon’s wider retreat from the genre.

## Summary

Amazon Games is transferring operation of Lost Ark’s Western servers to its developer Smilegate in early 2027, while Throne and Liberty will pass to FirstSpark Games by the end of 2026. Both games are expected to remain online, but the changes will disrupt some players, particularly Lost Ark users whose subscriptions and portions of their account history will not transfer. The handovers underline Amazon’s wider retreat from MMO development and publishing following the end of New World development and cancellation of its Lord of the Rings MMO.

Lost Ark characters, progression, inventory, entitlements and wallet balances are due to carry over, but chat histories, in-game mail, friends-list notes and group names will be lost. Active subscriptions will be cancelled before the transfer; 12-month subscriptions are no longer being sold, and treatment of unused prepaid time remains under discussion. Smilegate also plans eventually to bring Korean and Western content releases closer together, while FirstSpark’s Throne and Liberty transition is expected to involve less data loss.

## Coverage

- [Rock Paper Shotgun: Amazon are getting out of the MMO game, handing control of Lost Ark and Throne and Liberty to developers, but it won’t all be smooth for players](https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/amazon-are-getting-out-of-the-mmo-game-handing-control-of-lost-ark-and-throne-and-liberty-to-developers-but-it-wont-all-be-smooth-for-players)
- [PC Gamer: Amazon drops Lost Ark and Throne and Liberty](https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/amazon-drops-lost-ark-and-throne-and-liberty/)

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.