News - Horizon Multiplayer Game Being Rebooted To Remove Live-Service, Next Mainline
A major development has come to light regarding Guerrilla's long-in-development live-service Horizon game, Horizon Hunters Gathering. After negative player feedback from the game's various tests, the Amsterdam-based studio has been "working to reboot the game since June," Bloomberg reported.
The plan to reboot the game involves removing its live-service elements and shifting it to become "more of a traditional cooperative multiplayer game with a story mode and far smaller scope," the report said.
The report went on to say Guerrilla now has through December to "impress executives" in order for development to continue. Due to the paring down of the scope in the reboot, some developers working on Horizon Hunters Gathering are being "reassigned to a different project" that is due for evaluation by higher-ups by the end of the year.
What that other game is remains a mystery, but the report added that a "tiny team" at Guerrilla is now "plotting out the next single-player Horizon game." This game is, however, "years away" from being done, sources said.
What is Horizon Hunters Gathering?
Announced in February this year, Horizon Hunters Gathering is a multiplayer game set in the Horizon universe, allowing up to three players in a group.
It features a markedly different look from the main Horizon series, sporting more vibrant visuals and giving off Fortnite energy in terms of its looks.
Players will work together to fight the deadly, animal-like machines that the Horizon series is known for. Guerrilla has said the game’s combat is “tactical, reactive, and deeply skill-based.”
This was how the game was described upon its announcement, at least. It remains to be seen exactly how Horizon Hunters Gathering could change, beyond stripping out the live-service elements, given the reboot.
Sony's struggles in live-service
Like many other companies, PlayStation pushed into the very popular, potentially lucrative, and very competitive, live-service market by making a number of bets, and not all of them have paid off.
There have been successes, too, mostly notably Helldivers 2. The game sold more than 20 million copies. Sony’s multiplayer game Concord, on the other hand, failed to find an audience and was quickly taken offline, with its studio shuttered. Many are also wondering about the fate of the live-service game Fairgame$, following a number of key staff departures.
News - PS6 Is Still A Mystery To Sony, Including When It’s Coming Out
The PlayStation 5 console will celebrate the sixth anniversary of its launch in November, but what does the future hold in store for Sony's gaming ambitions? Current expectations are for a PlayStation 6 to eventually hit the market, but when it'll arrive is another question entirely. Analysts can only guess as much, but don't expect Sony's top brass to have answers either.
Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Sony CEO Hiroki Totoki confirmed this, saying that the company has yet to set a date for the launch of the PS6. It's not hard to see why Sony is hesitant to do so, given the current tech climate and the vocal feedback to its plans to move to an all-digital future for game releases on its platform. This echoes previous statements made by Totoki, who said back in May that the PS6 release date and price were still up in the air. Several months later, it looks like there's still no concrete answer on how much a PS6 will cost or when it'll be released.
The biggest challenge right now is navigating the trade wars and the disruption to supply chains, as the all-consuming demand for critical components by AI companies has helped create a massive global shortage of high-tech parts that were once easily available and affordable to buy at scale. The situation is already looking dire for 2027, with three of the biggest PC memory manufacturers reportedly already sold out for next year and no plans to manufacture additional components.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 08-19-2026, 04:45 AM - Forum: Lounge
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News - Rideshare Stimulator Outlines AI Usage After Contentious Exchange With Ex-Wri
After Saber Interactive unveiled its upcoming title Rideshare Stimulater, former lead writer Stella Sacco came forward and said that she had been replaced by ChatGPT during development. Saber CEO Matthew Karch denied Sacco's allegation that she had been replaced by AI, but the company has now shared previously undisclosed details about Rideshare Stimulator's AI usage.
Rideshare Stimulator casts players as a driver who can pick up a seemingly infinite number of passengers and interact with them while getting them to their final destinations. According to the new disclosure on the game's Steam page, Rideshare Stimulator uses AI tools for "voice generation and some localization" and AI-generated passenger missions that can be skipped if players only want "human-written narrative content."
It also adds that the game will have radio stations with "human-made music and AI-generated music," with the latter being clearly labeled in-game. However, Saber flatly states that "the main campaign story, characters, and dialogue are written by a team of human writers."
Earlier this week, Sacco said that she was replaced as the game's lead writer by AI "midway through development."
"They took me off the project to use ChatGPT to write the rest of the text, including planned live updates," Sacco told PC Gamer in a subsequent statement. "If they changed plans in the intervening years, that's great. But again: I was there, and it was my job to write the game, and then it wasn't once Matt Karch decided using ChatGPT would be great publicity for the game."
Karch released a statement of his own with This Week in Videogames that added greater controversy to the story by claiming that Stella "violated" her agreement with the company.
"Stella who? I had to ask Claude because I have never spoken to her or seen her. We have already said we are using AI for certain parts of the game and will update the Steam page once we have finalized the feature set. Let me clarify that the entire story script, were it to win an award, would go to someone who can walk up on stage and receive it. It was always our intention to reveal this until Stella violated her confidentiality clause and revealed this before we were ready."
Karch added his belief that "our use of AI in this particular game, which will be a lower-priced title, [will be a plus] for consumers." So far, the game's potential players don't appear to share that sentiment. The discussions page on Steam has several comments calling out Saber for its AI use on this game.
Rideshare Stimulator will be released on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. This game doesn't currently have a release date.
Earlier this summer, Netflix-owned developer Night School released Unhinged, a horror game that was playable on televisions/screens through the streaming app. Unhinged was met with acclaim by players, and Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters recently called Unhinged one of "our two most successful cloud game debuts" during an investor call. Regardless, Night School has been shuttered by Netflix's latest round of cuts.
As reported by Game File, Night School and Moonloot are the latest gaming developers to be closed down by Netflix. According to the outlet, Netflix justified the closures by noting that the streamer is narrowing its focus to games for kids, party games, story-driven titles, or "games with mainstream hooks."
"We see an opportunity to be more focused in our execution, so we are making organizational changes to the business to match those priorities," said Netflix in a statement to Game File. "Games continue to be an opportunity for us to expand the variety of entertainment we offer Netflix members."
This isn't the first time that Netflix has made gaming cuts at one of its developers after praising its work. Earlier this month, Netflix laid off 85% of the staff of Refactor Games, the developer behind a FIFA World Cup title that Netflix identified as the other most-successful cloud game debut alongside Unhinged.
As noticed by Respec, Xbox is no longer listed as the publisher for South of Midnight on Steam. Instead, the game is noted as being self-published by Compulsion Games, reflecting the studio's independence following another round of severe layoffs and restructuring from Xbox.
While Compulsion Games hasn't confirmed whether this is the case--who knows what type of strange and awful backroom clauses might be in place to ensure Xbox keeps getting a slice of this particular pie--this does seem to indicate that all future sales of South of Midnight on Steam will benefit Compulsion, not Compulsion and Xbox.
So if you want to play South of Midnight, but you were concerned about continuing to line Xbox's pockets, this seems like the golden opportunity to finally give the action-adventure platformer a go.
And you should play it! The game is so good! South of Midnight's selling point is certainly its atmosphere. The sound design and orchestral score are tied into the gameplay and story to put you right into the midst of its gothic fantasy, transforming the trauma of a resilient and multifaceted culture into the backbone of one of the most affecting video games I've ever played. Its combat and platforming aren't exactly wow-worthy, leaning on tried-and-true PlayStation 2-era mechanics without pushing them forward in any meaningful way, but those shortcomings are overshadowed by memorable characters, catchy tunes, and incredible visuals.
Like I said in my South of Midnight review, "Compulsion Games hasn’t made a direct sequel to any of its games yet, but it needs to make an exception here." South of Midnight is just that great. Compulsion Games has a real winner here, and you should support the studio by buying and playing South of Midnight, and then joining me in celebrating this gaming accomplishment.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 08-17-2026, 03:32 AM - Forum: Lounge
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News - New Bully-Like Agefield High Isn’t Having The Best First Day Of School
After a story trailer got Bully fans excited for the spiritual successor Agefield High: Rock The School last year, the game has officially released on PC. Unfortunately, first impressions from players aren't so kind, so you may want to temper your expectations that it could match the high bar Rockstar set so long ago.
Set in the early 2000s and inspired by the humor of movies like American Pie, Agefield High's developers warn on the Steam page that this humor isn't for everyone. However, the complaints from players seem to be more with how the game runs on a basic level. Numerous Steam reviews mention the characters' very stiff animations, crashing issues, sluggish and imprecise combat, and lag, even when on very low PC settings.
The last thing you see before you die
Our own Jean-Luc Seipke has spent some time with Agefield High, as well, and they echo many of these same complaints, as well as the writing, so those who just want to experience the story might not have a great time either. At the very least, however, there isn't AI-generated art in it.
It appears developer/publisher Refugium Games may have acknowledged these rough edges in a Steam post. Written in-character as Principal Carpenter, it says, "Please be gentle with the walls. The paint is still fresh."
Perhaps everything will work more as expected once that paint has dried, but for now, it sounds like you'd have a better time just tracking down a used copy of Bully and not spending nearly $30 for Agefield High.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 08-16-2026, 11:10 AM - Forum: Lounge
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News - Helldivers 2 NPCs Will Hug You Back Now, Even When No One Else Will
Helldivers 2's massive 7.0 update, Devoid of Liberty, is live now, and it brings some huge changes to the game's loveable SEAF soldiers.
These NPCs are basically the equivalent of UNSC marines in Halo--fun to have around, but not particularly good at their job. Previously in Helldivers 2, SEAF soldiers could be recruited to follow players around and occasionally shoot at enemies, but were mostly good at being accidentally (or maybe not?) blown to bits by friendly fire.
In the Devoid of Liberty update, the SEAF soldiers can now appear as a planet modifier, joining Helldivers in their battles. Dropships will routinely deliver SEAF soldiers into the fray, and they are more equipped for battle than ever before. Each SEAF squad will have a squad leader, a rifleman, a heavy weapon-wielding specialist, and a medic capable of stimming wounded Helldivers.
Better yet, SEAF soldiers will now interact with players in new ways. They're now capable of interacting with emotes, meaning they can shake hands, play rock, paper, scissors, or even give a hug to a Helldiver in need.
The SEAF changes are just one piece of the latest Helldivers 2 update. Devoid of Liberty additionally adds two new terrifying Illuminate enemy types. One, the Wretch, looks to have been ripped straight out of EA's Dead Space franchise, with developer Arrowhead Studios advising players to aim for its limbs in order to stop its relentless pursuit. Another new enemy, the Crusher, is a walking giant capable of regenerating rapidly, meaning Helldivers will need to focus their fire and keep up the pressure in order to keep them down.
On the quality-of-life front, the update massively increased Helldivers 2's level cap (from 150 to 300, with new ranks and rewards to earn). There's also plenty of balance changes, including making stims more responsive, faster recovery time after a heavy landing, and buffs to short magazines and secondary weapons. To coincide with new Void-based horrors, the game's long-awaited Warhammer 40K crossover Warbond is also available now. You can find the full Helldivers 2 Devoid of Liberty patch notes below.
A new biome full of fresh horrors awaits, the void warps everything it touches and your foes have taken new hideous forms.
The Crusher is on a deathmarch capable of regenerating while taking heavy damage and needs to be worn down quickly and consistently without a moment of pause.
The Wretch is a relentless and nimble enemy that requires quick trigger fingers and focused aim as they are able to dodge and leap at the player while advancing to quickly dismantle its weapons along with their will to live.
SEAF Support
SEAF have entered the battle!
Super Earth Armed Forces (SEAF) can now appear as a planet modifier, joining you in battle in your missions and enhancing your combat capabilities with a range of new tools (Stim pistols, Heavy Machine guns and more)
The SEAF take to the stars. Super Earth High Command has mandated the SEAF be deployed directly to the frontlines of the Galactic Campaign for Democracy. Helldivers will be able to be supported by friendly SEAF NPC troops, with new and improved behavior, weaponry and updated visuals
Level Cap Increased
We've expanded the Helldiver rank system beyond Level 150, adding 15 new ranks and titles that carry Helldivers all the way up to Level 300. Each new rank comes with its own unique title and icon to recognize the most dedicated defenders of Managed Democracy. Super Earth thanks you for your continued service, the fight never ends, and neither does your potential.
Expanded Emote Slots
Helldivers, you now have twice as many ways to express yourself on the battlefield! The emote wheel capacity has been raised from 4 to 8 emotes.
CASTELLAN'S CREED Warbond
Channel the formidable battle prowess of the Astra Militarum’s finest in the HELLDIVERS™ 2 x Warhammer 40,000: Castellan’s Creed Legendary Warbond.
Community Feedback Changes
We’re trying out a new section to shout out some of the fixes and changes that are high up on the community’s wishlist!
GATER Upgrades Super Earth engineers have replaced the engine and transmission in the GATER in favor of a much more powerful Super V48 Interceptor engine, this has improved its speed and handling.
The Constitution
… has stripper clips!
Assisted Reload Rework
Problem we want to solve:
The original intent was a tactical action that needed collaboration with a designated reloader that carries the backpack
We have reevaluated how this works and with how the game has evolved since launch we got to the conclusion that the assisted reload action require too much coordination which lead to it rarely happening
Intent and expectation with the change:
We want to reduce the complexity with assisted reloading to promote using it more.
Allow players to keep their backpack and reload whenever you need, while also allows a teammate to easily help you if the opportunity arises.
The change we made:
Helldivers can now assist reload as long as one of the wielder and/or reloader of the weapon has the correct backpack
Balancing
Updated icons for backpack weapons and expendable weapons
Problem we want to solve:
Find a specific weapon in the loadout can be hard to do with all the new weapons added to the arsenal
It can be hard to know if a support weapon needs a backpack or can not be reloaded when only looking at the icon.
Intent and expectation with the change:
We want to make it easier to find specific weapons and to plan your loadout.
It should be easier to know when a weapon needs a backpack or can not be reloaded when only looking at the icon.
The change we made:
Stratagem Weapons that require a backpack now have a backpack icon included on their loadout icons
Stratagem Weapons that can not be reloaded now have a drop weapon icon included on their loadout icons .
Decreased heavy landing duration
Problem we want to solve:
The original intent was to make the heavy landing to feel like you recovered from a high fall.
The player lost control for a long time when landing on the feet from a higher fall.
Intent and expectation with the change:
We wanted to make it smoother to recover from the heavy landing state and not remove the control for too long.
While still make it feel like a heavy landing recovery
The change we made:
Decreased the duration for the heavy landing animation with around 40%
Stim action input smoothing
Problem we want to solve:
Players can experience dead input when trying to stim when the stim action was not allowed.
Intent and expectation with the change:
We want to lessen the feeling of dead input when using the stim action.
The change we made:
We changed so the stim input is remembered for a short duration when the action is not allowed and will be executed if the stim action is allowed within that duration.
This works similar to how the reload input action changes from the last patch.
Ammo re-balance for Short magazines attachments and Secondaries
Problem we want to solve:
The benefits of the short magazines are too few compared to drum magazines.
The benefits of some of the anti personnel side arms do not have enough benefits compared to other side arm options.
Intent and expectation with the change:
Give more benefits to short magazines to make the items more useful compared to drum magazines for the same weapon.
Give more benefits to some of the lesser used anti personnel side arms to make the items more useful
The change we made:
Short magazines got more max spare and starting magazines.
Some of the anti personnel sidearms got more max spare and starting magazines.
Primaries
R-2124 Constitution
Added a full stripper clip reload when reloading if the magazine is empty.
Primaries attachments
Short magazines for:
AR-23 Liberator
AR-23P Liberator Penetrator
AR-23C Liberator Concussive
AR-23A Liberator Carbine
AR-59 Suppressor
Increased spare magazines 12 to 16
Increased starting magazines 7 to 9
Short magazines for:
SMG-37 Defender
SMG-72 Pummeler
Increased spare magazines 9 to 12
Increased starting magazines 6 to 8
Short magazines for:
SMG/FLAM-34 Stoker
Increased spare magazines 10 to 13
Increased starting magazines 6 to 7
Decreased reload duration 2.8 sec to 2.3 sec
Short magazines for:
SG-225 Breaker
SG-225IE Breaker Incendiary
Increased magazines spare magazines 9 to 11
Increased magazines starting magazines 6 to 7
Short magazines for:
SG-225SP Breaker Spray&Pray
Increased spare magazines 16 to 20
Increased starting magazines 11 to 12
Secondaries
P-113 Verdict
Increased max spare magazines from 8 to 10
Increased starting magazines from 4 to 6
M6C/SOCOM Pistol
Increased max spare magazines from 8 to 10
Increased starting magazines from 5 to 6
P-19 Redeemer
Increased spare magazines from 4 to 6
Stratagems
Eagle Napalm Airstrike
Problem we want to solve:
The Eagle napalm did not feel as effective compared to other Eagle stratagems and napalm stratagems
Intent and expectation with the change:
Create a larger area of effect for the napalms fire
Make it more effective compared to other napalm stratagems
The change we made:
Increased explosion radius 8 to 10m
More spread out bomb pattern to cover a larger area
MD-17 Anti-Tank Mines
Problem we want to solve:
The explosion of the mines looks like they can destroy larger things
Intent and expectation with the change:
The effect of the explosion match should match the visuals better
Make the mines work in more situations like destroying colony walls and bug holes from the outside
The change we made:
Increased Demolition strength from 30 to 40
Enemies
Terminids
Hunters
Problem we want to solve:
Hunters and their variants were unable to attack FRVs consistently
They could only use their tongue to attack, and struggle to find a proper position to launch it
Intent and expectation with the change:
When Helldivers enter a FRV, Hunters should be able to attack the vehicle more naturally
The change we made:
We allowed one melee attack to be correctly triggered against FRVs
Illuminate
Veracitor
Problem we want to solve:
When the Helldiver got attacked by a Veracitor while holding a ballistic shield it could created clipping issue where the arm of the Veracitor could merge with the body of the Helldiver and sometime resulting in sending the Helldiver at high speed in the air
Intent and expectation with the change:
Fighting an exomech with a ballistic shield still protects against damage, but Helldivers will now ragdoll when blocking an attack
Helldivers won’t be sent to low orbit anymore after blocking an attack with ballistic shield.
Ballistic shield will break after around 15 direct hits
The change we made:
Increased Exomech melee’s force strength from 25 to 40
Conformed Exomech melee’s attack armor penetration to all correctly be Anti tank
Fixes
Crash Fixes
Fixed rare crash that could happen when dropping down the core drill
Fixed a crash which could occur when spreading fire
Fixed a very rare crash which could occur when mortar sentries update their targeting aim
Fixed a crash that could happen sometimes when dropping in on CR7+ missions on Cyberstan
Fixed a rare UI crash on shutdown
Fixed a crash when using multiple monitors with different DPI scales in Windows
Weapons & Stratagem Fixes
Sway and reload weapon stats now display decimals for better accuracy
Stratagem Weapons that require a backpack now have a backpack icon included on their loadout icons
Stratagem Weapons that cannot be reloaded now have a drop weapon icon included on their loadout icons
You can now assist reload a Helldiver, using ammo from their backpack
Fixed glitch where Veto pistol would receive one extra round (translating to one extra 6 bullet reload!) from the Siege-Ready armor passive.
Also corrects a few other weapons which also received one erroneous extra round, magazine or heat-coil. We continue to round partial bonus rounds/mags/coils up in favor of the player.
Fixed a bug where the camera clipped through the R-36 Eruptor with 2x Tube Red Dot equipped when inserting the next bullet in ADS at max FoV
Enemies will no longer spontaneously attack the GATER unless the Helldiver is inside it or unless they are drilling. Enemies famously hate the democratic extraction of natural resources.
Weapons will no longer lock onto the tank of the GATER
Increased GATER ammo capacity, health, knockback and impact damage. Also made it harder to roll sideways
Increased the speed and responsiveness of the GATER
Fixed an issue where the first person animation of the LAS-58 Talon overloading would make the weapon clip with the SH-20 Ballistic Shield Backpack
Fixed an issue where the Helldiver would cancel draw animations if they tried to enter the aim state while switching weapons. This would cause the Helldiver to look ready to fire, while still preparing the weapon
The Ministry of Defence user experience department have made improvements to the TD-220 Bastion Mk.XVI munitions system Heads Up Display. This should make it clearer the main canon can be reloaded manually.
Orbital Laser will no longer occasionally get stuck after targeting a flying enemy
Exosuits will no longer get stuck in trees when being dropped off
Throwable items are now being visible to other players when the Helldiver is carrying them
Fixed a bug where the EXO-55 Breakthrough Exosuit would sometimes have the shield arm damage zones protrude through the shield, resulting in the arm taking damage that the shield should have protected
Fixed case where the Breaker Drill could get stuck on the roof in certain hive world missions
M-104 Incinerator FRV's mounted flamethrower now shows the correct icon and name
Enemies
Fixed an issue where the Gatekeeper's weapons clipped into each other when their target was too close
Fixed an issue where visually removing the armor of the Impaler didn't match the gameplay experience
Impaler close melee attack now has a damage shockwave
Hunters are now able to attack FRVs more consistently
Fixed a bug where enemies would disappear when the Helldiver died, thus not being able to know what just killed the Helldiver
Fixed enemy navigation issues in one of the Take Down Overship locations
Fixed a bug where the Veracitor's melee attack could clip through Helldivers holding a SH-20 Ballistic Shield Backpack
Fixed issue where Watchers and Obtruders were not attacking players while mounted behind a Grenadier Battlement
Fixed an issue where sometimes the Hive Lord scales would not visually break properly (did not affect gameplay behavior)
Obtruder will now collide correctly with Helldivers
Reduced clipping between Obtruder and Helldivers' vehicles
Veracitors now guard outposts
Fixed an issue where the Veracitor clipped through buildings and obstacles while charging. It should now destroy anything in its path and stop when hitting a wall
Fixed an issue where the Veracitor clipped through buildings and obstacles while charging. It should now destroy anything in its path and stop when hitting a wall
Gatekeeper spawnrate has been increased to closely match Veracitor in Encounters
Fixed a bug for Gatekeeper sometimes appearing to turn in place without moving their legs
Fixed bug which would on rare occasions cause enemies to not be able to move into the correct attack range
SEAFs can destroy enemy spawners
Enemies have learned how to climb stairs during the Establish Communication Uplink missions
Miscellaneous Fixes
Fixed several mission HUD inconsistencies on certain Hiveworld missions
Fixed visible holes in the terrain in one of the Disrupt Shield Generator locations
Fixed a bug where the factory building facade was inverted
Updated the sounds for picking up medals, requisition slips and super credits one of the missions
Fixed a bug where the Recoil Simulator was showing all ammo being fired at once
Vehicle delivery shuttles will no longer get stuck endlessly looking for a place to drop off their deliveries when deployed in dense cities between tall buildings
Helldivers will no longer ride the victory elevator with their hands in the air like some kind of rollercoaster
Helldivers how have a chance to find super credits in Factory Worlds
Fixed an issue in the tutorial where the incoming timer for the Orbital Precision Strike could display an incorrect duration
Optimized various gameplay VFX across the game
Prevented hit-markers being displayed for hits from indirect explosive damage, damage from your sentries and damage from your orbitals/airstrikes. Melee weapons, laser weapons and flame weapons will now display their hit markers correctly
Fixed an issue with ragdolling causing invisible collision issues
Exo Storms of class 2 and 3 will now spawn tornadoes of varying sizes, depending on the intensity of the storm.
If your Helldiver cannot stim at the exact moment when the stim button is pressed, they will automatically stim as soon as they are able to (up to 2 seconds later)
Fixed a bug where planting the CQC-1 One True Flag would break animations for other melee weapons.
Fixed a bug where the CQC-1 One True Flag would be planted at the Helldivers feet instead of being planted in front of the Helldiver
Fixed an issue where the player could see through the Destroyer ship while in a cutscene
Decreased the Helldivers heavy land animation from 1.32 sec to 0.8 sec
Scrolling to the bottom of the Bindings menu with a controller now correctly stops at the last available option instead of disappearing
Fixed possible graphical artifacts in the Control Center
Fixed a bug where Network Desync can cause SEAF Artillery shells to not be inserted properly, causing a soft lock
Fixed a visual bug where the Oil Rig was displaying both destroyed and non-destroyed visual states
Clothes on the upper body of civilian industrial corpses in cities now have the correct textures
Optimized tree VFX materials
Fixed an issue where network problems caused collision errors with enemy corpses.
Fixed an issue that prevented Super Credits from spawning in Factory Cities
Additional improvements to image quality when using upscaling
Reduced ghosting around the edges of the screen when using NVIDIA DLSS upscaling
Fixed blocky artifacts on nebula effects, especially visible on lower render scales
News - Amazon Will Soon Be Out Of The MMO Business Entirely
Amazon Game Studios looks to be getting out of the MMO business entirely, handing Western operations of Throne and Liberty and Lost Ark back to their respective developers.
In two blog posts, Amazon Game Studios outlined its plans to transition both games to their South Korean creators in the coming months. For Throne and Liberty, that transition will happen in Q4 2026 as NC (formerly NCSoft) takes over, while Lost Ark's transition will happen in early 2027 and see Smilegate fully take the reins.
While Amazon didn't develop the two games directly, it did publish both titles and handled live-service operations and customer support in the West. Both free-to-play games found success at launch (Lost Ark in particular saw huge numbers on Steam), but have seen player counts dwindle over time.
It doesn't sound like much will change in the near term. Both games will likely experience some downtime as Amazon hands over the keys, but the two games will each continue to operate in the West. Most player data and character progress made in the two games will also carry forward. In the case of Throne and Liberty, cross-progression will no longer work between Steam and consoles after the transition.
For those who don't want to hand over all of their data, there will be an option to opt out of the transition. Doing so naturally means characters, items, and other progress won't be transferred, and players will essentially need to start again from scratch. For everyone else, the data transfer will essentially be seamless, with no action needed on the part of players aside from needing to accept a new terms of service upon logging in for the first time.
Amazon just a few years ago looked to be establishing itself as a major player in the MMO space. It released its own MMO, New World, in 2021 to huge initial numbers on Steam, even if it didn't hold on to that momentum for long. It then followed up that success in 2022 by publishing and operating Lost Ark in the West, with Throne and Liberty following a similar playbook in 2024. There were also plans for Amazon to publish the anime MMO Blue Protocol, though the game's Western release was instead canceled entirely.
Flash forward to now and the house of Bezos has completely washed its hands of the genre. Amazon announced earlier this year that New World's servers will go offline in early 2027, following a console release in 2024 and a string of well-received updates that had players optimistic for the future prior to the shutdown announcement. The creators of New World were also working on a Lord of the Rings MMO, only for that to be reportedly canceled amidst layoffs at Amazon Game Studios.
