Amazon Games divests Lost Ark and Throne and Liberty to NC, Smilegate

Published 8 Nov 2026 · Games Atlas Editorial · Publishing Deal · Companies: Amazon Games, NC, Smilegate

Games Atlas summary: Amazon Games transfers publishing rights for its last two MMOs to Asian developers. Throne and Liberty moves to FirstSpark Games and NC in Q4 2026. Lost Ark follows to Smilegate for western publishing in early 2027. Amazon Games now backs only two Tomb Raider titles and Luna party games.

Deal mechanics

• Throne and Liberty publishing reverts to FirstSpark Games and NC, formerly NCSoft, in Q4 2026.
• Lost Ark publishing transfers to developer Smilegate in early 2027.
• Players keep characters, progression and account data unless they opt out of the transfer.
• Lost Ark players lose in-game mail, friends lists, blacklists, guilds, strongholds and chat logs.

Strategic logic: Amazon narrows to owned IP

• Amazon began divesting from games last October, well before this MMO exit.
• It has already ended New World's live service and shut down King of Meat.
• It also dropped publishing duties for Maverick Games' Clutch and MOBA March of Giants.
• Remaining commitments concentrate on owned transmedia IP: two Tomb Raider titles and Luna party games.
• Amazon Games GM Jeff Gattis has also flagged interest in publishing future James Bond titles.

Operational burden shifts to Asian publishers

• NC and Smilegate must now stand up western publishing infrastructure Amazon previously ran.
• That includes live-ops, payment processing, regulatory compliance and player support across PC and console regions.
• Social data transfer defaults to opt-in, creating a new compliance task for NC and Smilegate.
• Throne and Liberty spans PlayStation 5, PC and Xbox, widening NC's support footprint.

Competitive implications

• Amazon exits MMO publishing after positioning itself as the premier western MMO gateway.
• NC, formerly NCSoft, regains direct control over Throne and Liberty's western live-ops.
• Smilegate takes on direct western publishing for Lost Ark for the first time.
• The retreat frees Amazon's capacity for narrower, IP-driven slates like Tomb Raider.

What this means

• For Publishers & Developers: Drop Amazon from western publishing shortlists for Asian MMOs and budget for self-publishing operations.
• For Investors & VC: Add publisher-exit and rights-reversion terms to diligence on titles backed by big-tech publishers.
• For UA & Marketing: Time rival-MMO acquisition campaigns to the transfer windows to capture churning guild players.

Sources

• Amazon Games Officially Gives Up on Two MMOs (polygon.com)