The Western version of Lost Ark is heading back to its original creators, with Amazon Game Studios announcing today that it will end its live service operations of the game in early 2027 and hand things over to developer Smilegate. To be clear, Lost Ark is not shutting down. Amazon frames the move as a positive outcome for players, with the game continuing in the West under Smilegate’s direct operation, and content updates, events, and support running as usual until the transition.
While it’s been a very long while since I’ve logged in, Lost Ark remains my most played game on Steam, with over 1,000 hours, which I’m still not sure is something I should be proud of. As I mentioned before, I sank nearly 1,000 of those hours into the game around its launch, and that record-breaking February 2022 debut gets a nod in Amazon’s farewell message, alongside a memory of players dancing together in Prideholme Inn before the closed beta servers came down.
For players, the transition is mostly automatic. Account data transfers to Smilegate’s servers on the transition date, and characters, progression, inventory, entitlements, and purchases all remain intact, accessed afterward through a first-login flow that links your Steam account to Smilegate’s systems. The game stays on Steam with no reinstall or repurchase required. Wallet balances, including Royal Crystals, Blue Crystals, Gold, and Silver, transfer in full, with Smilegate agreeing to honor 100 percent of their value as of the transition date. Not everything makes the trip, though: in-game mail, friends list memos, blacklist memos, guild member nicknames, stronghold gift messages, and chat history will all be left behind, so claim anything sitting in your mailbox before the maintenance window.
An opt-out window also opens today for anyone who doesn’t want their data sent to Smilegate, running until shortly before the transition date. Opting out means starting fresh under Smilegate’s operation, so consider carefully before choosing that route. On the storefront side, the changes start sooner. Crystalline Aura subscriptions, T4 Founder’s Packs, and the Abyssal Support Pack leave Steam on August 26, though Crystalline Aura remains available in the in-game shop for now. Active subscriptions will be cancelled with notice before the handover, the 12-month Crystalline Plus subscription has already been pulled, and Amazon recommends against purchasing new long-term subscriptions. Premium currency purchases and the currency exchange will be disabled closer to the transition, and Amazon’s no-refund policy stays in place, with Smilegate setting its own policy afterward.
A few other changes are worth noting. Spanish language support is being removed with the October 2026 update as part of transition preparation, leaving Lost Ark in the West as English only. Amazon will also stop operating the game’s social channels after the handover, with the playlostark.com domain moving to Smilegate. The exit continues a broader pullback for Amazon Games, which shut down King of Meat earlier this year and sold Amazon Games Montreal to Ubisoft along with March of Giants. Smilegate has published its first developer letter on what comes next, and Amazon says regular updates will follow through the usual channels as the transition date approaches.
