Lost Ark fans fear the worst as Amazon lays off more employees ‘as part of broader organizational decisions’
Some high-profile layoffs at Amazon Game Studios has Lost Ark fans worried that the game is approaching its end of days, despite still putting up decent player numbers on Steam. In a message posted on its website, the Lost Ark dev team acknowledged that cuts have happened, but said it will “keep working to improve the game and move Lost Ark forward with every update.”
Layoffs were first reported by former Lost Ark community manager Roxanne Sabo, who wrote on X (via PCGamesN), “Half a decade of work, countless innovative projects, a career-changing promotion, a Forbes 30 under 30 award. To the Lost Ark Community: You will always be my proudest achievement.”
Producer Henry Stelter shared news of his own layoffs on X and a longer message on LinkedIn, where he wrote, “With the latest round of layoffs at Amazon Games, I was informed this morning that my 9 year tenure with Amazon would be drawing to a close soon.”
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Sean Hamilton, another Amazon Games community manager, reported being laid off in his own post, in which he said “many talented teammates and friends” were impacted by the cuts as well.
Welp, it was my turn to be sacrificed to the blood god. I was laid off this morning.
After 5.5 years at Amazon Games I got the axe. I’m so proud of the great UR team I built there, the talented researchers I had a chance to work with, and the skilled game teams we supported. 💔— @kohizeri.bsky.social (@kohizeri.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2026-03-18T20:52:20.470Z
The response to the layoffs among some in the Lost Ark subreddit is grim, and not just because many of the departed developers were popular among the community. Amazon effectively gave up on the big-budget game business in 2025, opting instead to embrace AI slop, and that slash-and-burn included the decision to pull the plug on New World, which will go dark at the end of January 2027.
New World wasn’t a huge hit but it did seem moderately successful, at least based on concurrent player counts—but not successful enough to keep the lights on. Lost Ark can easily be slotted into the same category: Doing okay, but maybe not okay enough.
“After NW, it was just a matter of months before they do the same with the Lost Ark team,” redditor Bomahzz wrote. “I hope they won’t kill the game but I suppose it takes minimum effort for them as SGS [original Lost Ark developer Smilegate Studios] is doing all the work besides the localization.”
A couple redditors noted that the closure of New World is slated to happen just before the fifth anniversary of Amazon’s Lost Ark launch, and predicted the timing means Amazon Game Studios will be rolled up entirely, passing what remains of its gaming responsibilities on to the cloud platform Luna. Given that, a few express hope that Smilegate will find another Western publisher (Smilegate itself only publishes Lost Ark in South Korea), and the game will be allowed to carry on.
For the immediate future, though, Amazon says it will continue to forge ahead. “We want to address some recent changes you may have noticed. Some talented individuals have recently left the Lost Ark team as part of broader organizational decisions. We’re grateful for their contributions, and transitions like these are never easy for anyone involved,” a message on the Lost Ark website states.
“The March 11th ‘Ends of the Abyss’ update six days ago, brought a story conclusion, a host of quality of life and balance updates, Guardian Raid improvements, Paradise Season 3 and much more. We hear your feedback, both positive and constructive, in and out of game and it will shape what comes next. We know trust is earned through actions, not words. We’ll keep working to improve the game and move Lost Ark forward with every update. Thank you for your continued support, passion, and feedback! We’ll see you in Arkesia!”
