Amazon Games will relinquish its publisher role on two live-service MMOs — Smilegate's Lost Ark and NCSoft's Throne and Liberty — by early 2027, ending a roughly five-year Western publishing operation that defined the Amazon Games brand outside its own first-party development.

The transition, first reported by GameDev.net, sets a firm deadline for returning publishing rights to the original Korean developers. Both titles launched globally with Amazon as Western publisher: Lost Ark in February 2022 after an extended marketing push, and Throne and Liberty in late 2024 following a similarly protracted global rollout.

What is changing for players and operators?

For Lost Ark, the change reverses a relationship that placed Amazon Games as the lead commercial partner for Western markets. Amazon handled localization, marketing, community operations, and the live-ops calendar tied to Smilegate's Korean roadmap. Smilegate will assume direct Western publishing responsibility, mirroring its existing arrangements in Korea and parts of Asia.

Throne and Liberty, developed and serviced by NCSoft, similarly loses its global Western partner. NCSoft has long operated Western publishing through NCSoft West on titles including Lineage 2 and Guild Wars 2, making internal absorption the expected path.

What did Amazon build around these games?

The Amazon Games publishing division expanded significantly to support these launches. By mid-decade the unit supported dozens of live-service roles across localization, customer support, anti-cheat, and community management for both titles. The withdrawal unwinds a substantial operational footprint built specifically around these two MMOs.

Lost Ark in particular anchored Amazon's flagship external live-service offering for several years, generating sustained revenue through its Western launch period before declining alongside the broader ARPG-MMO segment. Throne and Liberty, while newer, entered a saturated Western MMORPG market against Final Fantasy XIV and Elder Scrolls Online.

What does Amazon's portfolio look like after this?

The exit consolidates Amazon Games' external publishing around fewer commitments. New World, developed internally at Amazon's Orange County studio, and The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria, co-developed with Free Range Games, remain within the company's portfolio. The publishing infrastructure assembled for the MMO launches is scaled back.

The move also leaves open questions about other co-development arrangements, particularly the ongoing Tomb Raider project with Crystal Dynamics and the unannounced The Lord of the Rings title with Middle-earth Enterprises.

What signals are worth watching?

Three operational decisions will indicate how the transition lands. First, whether Smilegate and NCSoft maintain existing server populations or execute forced migrations. Second, whether in-game purchases, founder packs, and subscription tiers transfer cleanly or reset under new commercial terms. Third, the staffing impact on Amazon Games' publishing organization, which operated the operational backbone of both titles.

The early 2027 deadline also raises the question of whether Smilegate and NCSoft will retain the existing Western account infrastructure or require player migrations. Comparable transitions, including the 2024 Cryptic Studios handoff to other parties, produced friction around purchased content retention.

Amazon's broader pivot toward internally developed first-party titles and select co-development deals has been underway for several years. Rescinding the Lost Ark and Throne and Liberty publisher role marks the most concrete public milestone of that shift to date, with operational consequences arriving by early 2027.