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Amazon Lumberyard

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Amazon Lumberyard
Information
Type Game engine
Industry Video game development
Developer Amazon Web Services
Written In C++, Python
Operating System Windows (editor)
License Proprietary (AWS Customer Agreement and Lumberyard Service Terms); source available
Supported Devices Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, iOS, Android, Linux (dedicated servers); Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, OSVR
Release Date 9 February 2016 (Beta 1.0); final release Beta 1.28 on 19 May 2021
Website https://docs.aws.amazon.com/lumberyard/


Amazon Lumberyard was a free, cross-platform 3D game engine from Amazon Web Services (AWS), built on CryEngine technology licensed from Crytek. Amazon released it as a beta on 9 February 2016. The engine had built-in connections to AWS cloud services and to the Twitch streaming platform, and its full source code came with the download. Amazon charged no royalties or seat fees for it.[1][2]

Support for virtual reality arrived in Beta 1.3 in June 2016. Lumberyard handled each head-mounted display through a plug-in module called a Gem, with Gems for the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive at first and an OSVR Gem added later.[3][4] The engine stayed in beta for its whole life. Beta 1.28, released on 19 May 2021, was the last version.[5][6] In July 2021 AWS contributed an updated version of the engine to the Linux Foundation as the Open 3D Engine (O3DE). Amazon no longer offers Lumberyard and names O3DE as its official successor.[7][8]

Reviewed 6 October 2026. Re-checked launch terms, CryEngine licensing, VR Gem architecture, per-version VR changes, VR samples, Star Citizen adoption, final 1.28 release and O3DE succession against the AWS press release, AWS blogs, archived release notes and user guide, O3DE migration guide, Linux Foundation release and the cited press reports. About review dates.

History

CryEngine license and launch

In April 2015 SiliconANGLE, citing Kotaku's sources, reported that Amazon was the partner in a large CryEngine licensing deal with Crytek and had paid around US$50 million to US$70 million. Crytek chief executive Cevat Yerli had told Eurogamer that the deal was "purely revenue" and that Crytek had not been bought.[9]

AWS announced Lumberyard on 9 February 2016 as a free engine for PC and console games, with full source code and no seat fees, subscription fees or revenue sharing. Developers paid only the standard fees for any AWS services their games used. Amazon announced GameLift at the same time, a managed service for deploying and scaling session-based multiplayer game servers, which it said would let Lumberyard developers scale their servers to meet player demand. GameLift cost US$1.50 per 1,000 daily active users plus standard AWS fees. Two Twitch features came with the engine: ChatPlay, which let viewers of a stream affect the game through chat commands, and JoinIn, which let broadcasters invite viewers into their game.[1] Game Developer reported that the beta supported PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, with mobile support planned.[2]

Beta 1.0 shipped with the Asset Processor, a modular Gems system with 18 functional components, the Geppetto character tool, a particle editor, the GridMate networking layer, the Waf build system and Wwise LTX, a free version of Audiokinetic's sound engine.[10] Beta 1.1 in March 2016 added preview support for iOS devices with A8 GPUs and for the Android-based Nvidia Shield.[11]

The AWS service terms for Lumberyard said that the engine and its tools "may not be run on any Alternate Web Service" and that a Lumberyard project "may not read data from or write data to any Alternate Web Service". The Register noted the same terms for a clause that lifted the ban on safety-critical uses in the event of a zombie outbreak certified by the US Centers for Disease Control.[12] In an August 2016 Road to VR article accompanying his Voices of VR podcast interview with Lumberyard senior principal engineer Hao Chen, Kent Bye wrote that part of Amazon's long-term strategy was to rely on game developers using its cloud services to fund continued development of the engine.[13]

Releases from 2016 to 2021

AWS released six more betas during 2016, from Beta 1.1 in March to Beta 1.6 in November.[11][14] In its year-end summary the company said Beta 1.3 had made Lumberyard "one of the first game engines with support for HDR displays".[15] MCV reported that the release supported both the HDR10 and Dolby Vision formats.[16] Cloud Imperium Games announced on 23 December 2016 that Star Citizen and Squadron 42 were using Lumberyard and AWS, starting with the Star Citizen 2.6 Alpha update. Chris Roberts said the studio had been working with Amazon for more than a year and cited the engine's "deep back-end cloud integration on AWS and its social component with Twitch".[17] At TwitchCon 2016, Amazon Game Studios revealed three games built on Lumberyard, including Breakaway, which it described as a four-versus-four "team battle sport".[15]

At GDC 2017, Amazon demonstrated rendering features it said made Lumberyard "the first game engine to directly integrate temporal anti-aliasing, specular anti-aliasing and order-independent transparency", all enabled by default. Road to VR's report noted that the engine supported the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and OSVR without licensing fees.[18] Beta 1.10, released on 1 August 2017, contained more than 545 features, fixes and improvements, among them temporal anti-aliasing and order-independent transparency.[19] In August 2017 Amazon also announced that it would publish the source code on GitHub, where users could upgrade incrementally, keep their own forks and submit fixes; until then the source had been distributed through the standard installer.[20] The code stayed under the AWS Customer Agreement and the Lumberyard Service Terms rather than an open-source license.[21]

Later betas moved the engine further from its CryEngine base. Beta 1.12 (December 2017) rebuilt the VR samples on the component entity system, the Script Canvas visual scripting tool and Lua, replacing the older Flow Graph scripts and legacy entities.[22] Beta 1.24 (May 2020) continued moving the legacy physics system to one based entirely on PhysX.[23] Beta 1.28 added a Twitch API Gem and fixed more than 40 bugs. In its announcement, AWS said its engineers were "very busy on major changes to Lumberyard" that were not in that release.[5]

Open 3D Engine and discontinuation

On 6 July 2021 the Linux Foundation announced the Open 3D Foundation. AWS contributed "an updated version of the Amazon Lumberyard game engine as the Open 3D Engine (O3DE), under the permissive Apache 2.0 license".[7] The Register wrote that O3DE no longer included the restrictions that had tied Lumberyard to Amazon's cloud platform.[24]

The two engines differ a great deal. The O3DE community's migration guide treats Lumberyard 1.28 as the starting point for conversion and lists the main changes. O3DE's Atom renderer uses a forward renderer, while Lumberyard used a deferred one. O3DE builds with CMake rather than Waf and uses prefabs instead of slices, and Lumberyard Gems are not compatible with O3DE, so each must be replaced with an O3DE version or recompiled. The guide lists Lumberyard's public platforms as Windows (editor and runtime), Linux servers, iOS and Android.[6]

AWS documentation now states that "Amazon Lumberyard is no longer offered" and that binaries are no longer available for download. The source code and user guide remain online as archived GitHub repositories, and current users are told to migrate their projects to O3DE.[8][21]

Virtual reality support

Gem-based device support

Amazon first showed Lumberyard VR at GDC 2016. The demo, built by Climax Studios and run on the Oculus Rift, included elevator rides, deep space and an attack by giant robot squids, and it used Twitch ChatPlay so viewers could vote on whether the player lived or died. Rift support in that demo was written into the engine code. According to Lumberyard graphics and VR engineer Cody White, developers then asked for support for many other devices, including the Samsung Gear VR, PlayStation VR and OSVR, and Amazon decided to move device support into Gems instead of hard-wiring each headset into the engine.[3]

In Beta 1.3 an HMD manager loaded a device-specific Gem that wrapped the vendor's SDK, and the stereo renderer created the render targets, handled "social screen" rendering and submitted frames to the headset. If several VR Gems were enabled, the engine chose one at runtime based on the headset that was plugged in. Each Gem could add its own Flow Graph nodes for device-specific features such as controller schemes and room states. White wrote that enabling the Gems had no performance cost in a finished game until VR code actually ran.[3] Before the release, Game Developer pointed out that Lumberyard did not offer editing inside VR, which Unreal Engine did at the time.[25] The Beta 1.3 release notes listed in-editor VR preview, VR packaged in a Gem so that projects pay for VR only if they use it, new HMD support by inheriting from a single C++ class, and latency and frame-rate tuning. Support covered the headsets and their peripherals, including touch controllers.[26]

In the final documentation, VR used an HMD Framework Gem plus one or more device Gems: Oculus for the Oculus Rift and OpenVR for the HTC Vive. The NullVR Gem ran a level through the HMD framework with no headset connected, for graphics debugging.[27] Output to the headset had to be switched on with the output_to_hmd console variable. The guide said to turn off depth of field, motion blur and global illumination, which it described as unnecessary or too costly for VR.[28] The VR system could be scripted with Script Canvas or Lua.[29]

VR samples

The release notes for Beta 1.7 (January 2017) introduced the Virtual Reality Project sample, and AWS announced it as a free standalone download on 9 February 2017.[30][31][32] Its levels covered the main features of a VR application:

Level What it demonstrated Source
TV Room Video Playback Gem: 2D, 3D and spherical 360-degree video at up to 4K and 60 fps, in mono or stereo, rendered to a texture on any surface [31]
Box Garden Haptic feedback on motion controllers, playspace control for room-scale applications, controller tracking and input [31]
Xylophone Spatial audio using the licensed version of Audiokinetic Wwise with the Audiokinetic Oculus Spatializer plug-in [31]
VR Islands Teleportation between floating islands with the instantVR slice, using a navigation mesh to define valid destinations (added in Beta 1.9) [33][34]

The instantVR slice gave developers tracked controller models, teleportation over a navigation mesh and automatic generation of a starting navigation area. The VR Preview component generated a 50 by 50 meter navigation area for teleporting.[35][33]

VR changes by version

Version Date VR changes Source
Beta 1.3 June 2016 Oculus Rift and HTC Vive Gems, with support for touch controllers; VR Preview in the editor [26]
Beta 1.4 August 2016 OpenVR Gem upgraded to OpenVR SDK 1.0; VR_BoxGarden_Sample level; OpenVR playspace exposed to Flow Graph [36]
Beta 1.5 September 2016 New OSVR Gem; automatic detection of headset resolution; Oculus Gem moved to Oculus SDK 1.5; shadow maps shared between the two eyes [4]
Beta 1.6 November 2016 VR system rebuilt on the HMDDeviceBus event bus; VR scripting in Lua; Camera component supports VR [14]
Beta 1.7 January 2017 Virtual Reality Project sample; stereoscopic spherical video; controller haptics; Oculus SDK 1.9 and OpenVR SDK 1.0.3 [30][31]
Beta 1.8 February 2017 Playspace node for Oculus and Vive; node that generates a navigation mesh for VR teleporting; VR debug camera [37]
Beta 1.9 April 2017 Lua scripts for teleport, controller and ray casting; instantVR slice; VR Islands level [34]
Beta 1.10 August 2017 NullVR Gem; VR:SetTrackingLevel node to choose head or floor tracking, useful for 360-degree video playback; legacy 3D TV stereo settings removed [38][39]
Beta 1.12 December 2017 VR samples moved to the component entity system, Script Canvas and Lua [22]
Beta 1.23 February 2020 OSVR Gem deprecated [40]

Reception and adoption

At launch, UploadVR presented Lumberyard as a possible alternative to Unity and Unreal Engine for VR developers, and as a way for Amazon to promote its web services.[41] When Amazon handed the code to the Linux Foundation in 2021, The Register wrote that Lumberyard had faced "stiff competition" from Unreal Engine and Unity, and called the switch of Star Citizen to the engine "a high-profile but questionable win".[24] Engadget wrote that Amazon "hasn't had much success with in-house games built on Lumberyard", having cancelled Crucible and delayed New World.[42]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Amazon Web Services Announces Amazon Lumberyard - A Free, Cross-Platform, 3D Game Engine Integrated with AWS and Twitch". Amazon Press Center. Amazon. 2016-02-09. https://press.aboutamazon.com/2016/2/amazon-web-services-announces-amazon-lumberyard-a-free-cross-platform-3d-game-engine-integrated-with-aws-and-twitch. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Christian Nutt (2016-02-09). "Amazon launches new, free, high-quality game engine: Lumberyard". Game Developer. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/amazon-launches-new-free-high-quality-game-engine-lumberyard. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Cody White (2016-06-03). "Build for Any VR Device with Lumberyard Beta 1.3". AWS for Games Blog. Amazon Web Services. https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/gametech/build-for-any-vr-device-with-lumberyard-beta-1-3/. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Lumberyard Beta 1.5 - Improvements and Changes". Amazon Lumberyard Release Notes. Amazon Web Services. 2016-09. https://github.com/awsdocs/amazon-lumberyard-release-notes/blob/master/archive/1.5/changes.md. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Doug Erickson (2021-05-19). "Announcing Lumberyard Beta 1.28!". AWS for Games Blog. Amazon Web Services. https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/gametech/announcing-lumberyard-beta-1-28/. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Transitioning a project from Lumberyard (LY) to Open 3D Engine (O3DE)". O3DE Community (GitHub). Open 3D Engine community. https://github.com/o3de/community/blob/main/Migration%20Guides/Lumberyard%20to%20O3DE/README.md. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Linux Foundation to Form New Open 3D Foundation". Linux Foundation. The Linux Foundation. 2021-07-06. https://www.linuxfoundation.org/press/press-release/linux-foundation-to-form-new-open-3d-foundation. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Amazon Lumberyard (No longer offered)". AWS Documentation. Amazon Web Services. https://docs.aws.amazon.com/lumberyard/. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  9. ↑ Eric David (2015-04-07). "Amazon reportedly saved Crytek with $50-$70 million licensing deal". SiliconANGLE. https://siliconangle.com/2015/04/07/amazon-reportedly-saved-crytek-with-50-70-million-licensing-deal/. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  10. ↑ "Lumberyard Release Notes - Beta 1.0 (February 2016)". Amazon Lumberyard Release Notes. Amazon Web Services. 2016-02. https://github.com/awsdocs/amazon-lumberyard-release-notes/blob/master/archive/1.0/index.md. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 "Lumberyard Beta 1.1 - Preview Systems and Tools". Amazon Lumberyard Release Notes. Amazon Web Services. 2016-03. https://github.com/awsdocs/amazon-lumberyard-release-notes/blob/master/archive/1.1/preview-systems.md. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  12. ↑ Lester Haines (2016-02-11). "Amazon's Lumberyard invaded by zombies". The Register. https://www.theregister.com/2016/02/11/amazon_lumberyard_terms/. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  13. ↑ Kent Bye (2016-08-25). "Amazon's VR-capable Lumberyard Game Engine Sustained by AWS Cloud Services". Road to VR. https://roadtovr.com/amazon-lumberyard-vr-game-engine-sustained-by-aws-cloud-services/. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 "Lumberyard Beta 1.6 - Improvements and Changes". Amazon Lumberyard Release Notes. Amazon Web Services. 2016-11. https://github.com/awsdocs/amazon-lumberyard-release-notes/blob/master/archive/1.6/changes.md. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 J.C. Connors (2016-12-15). "Lumberyard in 2016 - Looking Back, Looking Ahead". AWS for Games Blog. Amazon Web Services. https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/gametech/lumberyard-in-2016-looking-back-looking-ahead/. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  16. ↑ "Amazon Lumberyard adds HDR support, plus native support for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive". MCV/DEVELOP. 2016-06-29. https://mcvuk.com/development-news/amazon-lumberyard-adds-hdr-support-plus-native-support-for-oculus-rift-and-htc-vive/. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  17. ↑ "Star Citizen and Squadron 42 Utilize Amazon Lumberyard Game Engine". Roberts Space Industries. Cloud Imperium Games. 2016-12-23. https://robertsspaceindustries.com/en/comm-link/press/15660-Star-Citizen-And-Squadron-42-Utilize-Amazon-Lumberyard-Game-Engine. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  18. ↑ Scott Hayden (2017-03-02). "Amazon Lumberyard Boosts Realism with Impressive Anti-aliasing". Road to VR. https://www.roadtovr.com/amazon-lumberyard-boosts-realism-impressive-anti-aliasing/. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  19. ↑ "Now available - Lumberyard Beta 1.10". What's New with AWS. Amazon Web Services. 2017-08-01. https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2017/08/now-available-lumberyard-beta-1-10/. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  20. ↑ Jim Thacker (2017-08-18). "Amazon to post Lumberyard source code on GitHub". CG Channel. https://www.cgchannel.com/2017/08/amazon-to-post-lumberyard-source-code-on-github/. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 "aws/lumberyard". GitHub. Amazon Web Services. https://github.com/aws/lumberyard. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 "Lumberyard Beta 1.12 - Improvements and Changes". Amazon Lumberyard Release Notes. Amazon Web Services. 2017-12. https://github.com/awsdocs/amazon-lumberyard-release-notes/blob/master/archive/1.12/improvements-changes.md. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  23. ↑ "Lumberyard Release Notes - Beta 1.24 (May 2020)". Amazon Lumberyard Release Notes. Amazon Web Services. 2020-05. https://github.com/awsdocs/amazon-lumberyard-release-notes/blob/master/1.24/index.md. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Gareth Halfacree (2021-07-07). "Amazon Lumberyard is dead, long live the permissively licensed Open 3D Engine". The Register. https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/07/open_3d_engine/. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  25. ↑ Alex Wawro (2016-06-06). "VR support comes to Amazon's Lumberyard engine, starting with Rift and Vive". Game Developer. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/production/vr-support-comes-to-amazon-s-lumberyard-engine-starting-with-rift-and-vive. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 "Lumberyard Release Notes - Beta 1.3 (June 2016)". Amazon Lumberyard Release Notes. Amazon Web Services. 2016-06. https://github.com/awsdocs/amazon-lumberyard-release-notes/blob/master/archive/1.3/index.md. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  27. ↑ "Configuring your Project for Virtual Reality". Amazon Lumberyard User Guide. Amazon Web Services. https://github.com/awsdocs/amazon-lumberyard-user-guide/blob/master/doc_source/virtual-reality-configuring.md. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  28. ↑ "Configuring Required Console Variables". Amazon Lumberyard User Guide. Amazon Web Services. https://github.com/awsdocs/amazon-lumberyard-user-guide/blob/master/doc_source/virtual-reality-cvars.md. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  29. ↑ "Create virtual reality projects in Lumberyard". Amazon Lumberyard User Guide. Amazon Web Services. https://github.com/awsdocs/amazon-lumberyard-user-guide/blob/master/doc_source/virtual-reality.md. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 "Lumberyard Release Notes - Beta 1.7 (January 2017)". Amazon Lumberyard Release Notes. Amazon Web Services. 2017-01. https://github.com/awsdocs/amazon-lumberyard-release-notes/blob/master/archive/1.7/index.md. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 31.2 31.3 31.4 J.C. Connors (2017-02-09). "Now Available - VR Sample". AWS for Games Blog. Amazon Web Services. https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/gamedev/now-available-vr-sample/. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  32. ↑ Jamie Feltham (2017-02-09). "Amazon Shows What Lumberyard Can Do For VR With Free Showcase". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/amazon-lumberyard-showcase/. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 "VR Islands Level". Amazon Lumberyard User Guide. Amazon Web Services. https://github.com/awsdocs/amazon-lumberyard-user-guide/blob/master/doc_source/sample-level-vr-islands.md. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 "Lumberyard Release Notes - Beta 1.9 (April 2017)". Amazon Lumberyard Release Notes. Amazon Web Services. 2017-04. https://github.com/awsdocs/amazon-lumberyard-release-notes/blob/master/archive/1.9/index.md. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  35. ↑ "Using the InstantVR Slice". Amazon Lumberyard User Guide. Amazon Web Services. https://github.com/awsdocs/amazon-lumberyard-user-guide/blob/master/doc_source/virtual-reality-instant-vr.md. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  36. ↑ "Lumberyard Beta 1.4 - Improvements and Changes". Amazon Lumberyard Release Notes. Amazon Web Services. 2016-08. https://github.com/awsdocs/amazon-lumberyard-release-notes/blob/master/archive/1.4/changes.md. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  37. ↑ "Lumberyard Release Notes - Beta 1.8 (February 2017)". Amazon Lumberyard Release Notes. Amazon Web Services. 2017-02. https://github.com/awsdocs/amazon-lumberyard-release-notes/blob/master/archive/1.8/index.md. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  38. ↑ "Lumberyard Beta 1.10 - Improvements and Changes". Amazon Lumberyard Release Notes. Amazon Web Services. 2017-08. https://github.com/awsdocs/amazon-lumberyard-release-notes/blob/master/archive/1.10/changes.md. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  39. ↑ "Lumberyard Release Notes - Beta 1.10 (August 2017)". Amazon Lumberyard Release Notes. Amazon Web Services. 2017-08. https://github.com/awsdocs/amazon-lumberyard-release-notes/blob/master/archive/1.10/index.md. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  40. ↑ "Lumberyard Beta 1.23 - Fixes". Amazon Lumberyard Release Notes. Amazon Web Services. 2020-02. https://github.com/awsdocs/amazon-lumberyard-release-notes/blob/master/1.23/fixes.md. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  41. ↑ Ian Hamilton (2016-02-09). "Amazon Releases Lumberyard Game Engine With VR Support Coming". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/amazon-releases-game-engine-with-vr-support-on-the-way/. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  42. ↑ Jon Fingas (2021-07-07). "Amazon open-sources its in-house game engine". Engadget. https://www.engadget.com/amazon-lumberyard-game-engine-open-source-150615764.html. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
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