Netflix and Amazon Both Shuttered Major Gaming Initiatives This Week, But Is That a Bad Thing?

These days, I feel like I’m saying “it’s been a tough week for gaming” more often than not. But this week has seen two major companies pulling back on their gaming initiatives in big ways. This, along with the sweeping number of big layoffs and studio closures in recent years, makes it feel like the gaming industry is shrinking in a big way. There’s no denying that things feel bleak. But in the case of big companies like Amazon and Netflix pulling back from gaming, I’m not sure it’s quite as dire as it might first appear. At least, not in the long term.

For mega corporations like Amazon and Netflix, gaming is just a piece of a larger puzzle. And around 2020, gaming started to look like the space for growth. Many people being stuck at home due to pandemic lockdowns played a part in a rapid resurgence in video games as a hobby. And initiatives like Netflix Games came seemingly as a direct response to that increased demand. But that center could never hold. As life settled back to its “new normal,” people’s time for gaming is naturally limited once again. That’s no doubt part of why some companies that once saw gaming as a quick way to capitalize on their IP have begun pulling back. And that might not be a bad thing in the long-term, even if it’s terrible for the impacted studios and developers right now.

Amazon Pulled Out of Throne and Liberty and Lost Ark, But The Games Live On

Earlier this year, we learned that Amazon Games wasn’t moving forward on its long-rumored Lord of the Rings MMO. So, it’s not too surprising that this week brought more news that Amazon is scaling back its MMO efforts in general. This week, we learned in quick succession that Amazon is pulling away from two of its biggest ongoing games: Throne and Liberty and Lost Ark. However, the games aren’t getting shut down, at least not yet.

When it launched in 2024, Throne and Liberty became the first Amazon Games-published MMO to truly take off here in the West. Though the free-to-play MMORPG has certainly seen a fall-off from its early heyday, it still has a modest but steady fanbase. But apparently, Amazon is ready to cut ties with the MMO. As shared in a recent post from the Throne and Liberty blog, Amazon Game Studios will no longer be the game’s publisher by the end of 2026. Instead, the game will be published by FirstSpark Games and NCSoft going forward. Fans will still be able to play the game, with their progress intact, after the transition.

The story for 2021’s Lost Ark is similar. Amazon Games will abandon ship in early 2027, with the developer becoming the new publisher. Smilegate will take over, with players able to continue without losing progress. Whether both MMOs are able to survive long-term without a big name like Amazon in the mix remains to be seen. But at least for now, Amazon pulling out doesn’t spell the end.

Having games in the hands of their developers isn’t always a bad thing, though it can certainly make the finances trickier. While bigger corporations like Amazon are in it for the money more than anything else, developers are often the ones who truly care about the quality of their games. In that way, having massive companies step away from gaming could let creativity reign over the bottom line, giving us better games. And it’s not just Amazon stepping back.

Netflix Shuttered 2 More Studios As It Pulls Back from Gaming Yet Again

Much like Amazon, Netflix increased its investment in gaming in recent years, only to back out now. Netflix Games first launched back in 2021, when it largely centered on mobile games based on Netflix-owned IP. Netflix went on to partner with and acquire more studios to expand its foothold in gaming. But it has been pulling back, including returning the upcoming cozy MMO Spirit Crossing to its developers earlier this year. In that case, the project has since expanded to more platforms and will be available to those who don’t have an active Netflix subscription. So that case could wind up being a win for gamers overall.

Now, Netflix is scaling back yet again, and this time that unfortunately includes shutting down entire studios. We learned this week that Netflix will close Night School Studio, acquired in 2021, and Moonloot, founded in 2022. Night School just launched its latest horror game a few weeks ago, whereas Moonloot didn’t have any confirmed projects in the works. Now, both are being shuttered as Netflix once again pulls back on its gaming efforts. At this point, it’s pretty clear at this point that Netflix’s gaming experiment hasn’t been going well. The streaming service has struggled to find any real hits from its gaming lineup. So, it’s not surprising to see the company ramping down, even if it is devastating to see more great game devs lose their jobs.

Like Amazon, Netflix isn’t a gaming company at its core. The streaming service largely seemed to view games as an extra incentive to keep subscribers around. It also let them try to squeeze more out of big IPs like Squid Game and Stranger Things. Of course, it’s terrible to see companies like this buying smaller studios only to shut them down later. But hopefully, corporations like Netflix and Amazon getting out of the game will eventually make space for studios that are, first and foremost, focused on games. It just sucks that it also means shutting down great studios and pulling funding from great projects in the short-term.

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