Amazon continues retreat from games by ending publishing deal for open world racer
#Amazon Games #Maverick Games #Open-world racing #Publishing deal #Tomb Raider #Luna cloud gaming #Video game industry
📌 Key Takeaways
- Amazon terminated its publishing deal with Maverick Games for an untitled open-world racing game.
- Maverick Games, founded by former Forza developers, is seeking a new publisher to continue the project.
- The cancellation is part of Amazon's larger strategy to scale back game development and focus on Luna and party games.
- Amazon will continue its partnership with Crystal Dynamics on the new Tomb Raider titles.
📖 Full Retelling
Amazon has officially ended its publishing agreement with Maverick Games regarding an upcoming open-world racing title, as reported on February 25, 2026, marking the latest step in the tech giant’s strategic retreat from the video game development sector. This decision comes as Amazon continues to pivot its gaming strategy away from large-scale projects following years of struggles to establish a foothold in the industry and significant internal restructuring within the company.
Maverick Games, a studio founded by former Forza developers, originally announced the partnership with Amazon in 2024. Despite the loss of the publishing giant, studio heads Mike Brown and Harinder Sangha assured fans that development on the as-yet-untitled racing project will proceed uninterrupted. The team is currently engaged in active discussions with potential partners who align with their long-term vision for the intellectual property, with further updates expected to be shared later in the year.
This move is part of a broader consolidation of Amazon’s gaming initiatives, which has seen the company dramatically reduce its footprint in the sector. Following mass layoffs last year, Amazon signaled its intent to exit the massively multiplayer online (MMO) space and concentrate resources on party games and its Luna cloud streaming service. Consequently, the company has recently offloaded the multiplayer title *March of Giants* to Ubisoft and shuttered production on the party game *King of Meat*, while former Amazon Games vice president Christoph Hartmann departed the organization earlier this year. Despite these cuts, Amazon maintains its partnership with Crystal Dynamics on a new *Tomb Raider* trilogy, which coincides with the franchise’s expansion into a Prime Video series.
🏷️ Themes
Gaming Industry, Corporate Strategy, Business News, Amazon
📚 Related People & Topics
Amazon Game Studios
American video game developer
Amazon Game Studios (formerly Amazon Games) is an American video game company and division of the online retailing company Amazon that primarily focuses on publishing video games developed within the company's development divisions.
Tomb Raider
Video game franchise
Tomb Raider, known as Lara Croft: Tomb Raider from 1996 to 2008, is a media franchise that originated with an action-adventure video game series created by British video game developer Core Design. The franchise is currently owned by CDE Entertainment; it was formerly owned by Eidos Interactive, the...
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Original Source
Entertainment Gaming News Amazon continues retreat from games by ending publishing deal for open world racer The debut title from Maverick Games is now in search of a new home. The debut title from Maverick Games is now in search of a new home. by Andrew Webster Feb 25, 2026, 1:46 PM UTC Image: Amazon Andrew Webster is an entertainment editor covering streaming, virtual worlds, and every single Pokémon video game. Andrew joined The Verge in 2012, writing over 4,000 stories. Amazon continues to scale back its gaming efforts, this time by ending a notable publishing deal. The Game Business reports that Amazon will no longer be the publisher of an upcoming open-world racing title from Maverick Games, a new studio made up of former Forza developers. The deal was originally announced in 2024 . The news comes as Amazon continues to pull back after years of trying to break through as a gaming company . As part of its mass layoffs last year , Amazon announced that it would be getting out of MMOs and focusing primarily on party games and its Luna streaming service . So far those changes have included offloading the multiplayer game March of Giants to Ubisoft and shutting down party game King of Meat , while former Amazon Game Studios boss Christoph Hartmann left the company at the beginning of this year . Amazon is still partnering with Crystal Dynamics on two new Tomb Raider titles ; that franchise is also becoming a streaming series on Prime Video . As for Maverick, studio heads Mike Brown and Harinder Sangha tell The Game Business that development on the as-of-now untitled racer will continue. “We’re in active dialogue with partners who share our long-term ambition for the IP and look forward to sharing more later this year.” Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates. Andrew Webster Entertainment Gaming News Most Popular Most Popular YouTube’s cheaper subscription is getting background p...
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