Amazon Games is the multinational conglomerate’s gaming department of the retail giant. The studio focuses on publishing games that are developed by Amazon itself and other game developers.
While the studio has not seen a lot of success, it is working on games that will be released in 2024 and beyond. One of them is Blue Protocol and an Untitled Tomb Raider project. In the huge list of video game companies that have announced layoffs, Amazon Games is the latest addition to the list. The list so far includes, but is not limited to: Ascendant Studios, Crystal Dynamics, Blizzard, Epic Games, Naughty Dog, and Telltale Games.
Amazon Games has recently laid off more than 180 employees as part of its restructuring scheme. Many companies have recently implemented restricting schemes. Many employees from several teams have had to depart because of the same.
Amazon Games Division Sees Lay Offs, Announced by Vice President of the Publisher on Monday
On Monday, Amazon announced that it will cut more than 180 jobs. Parts of business in the Amazon Games division which focused on streaming and supporting third-party games. This was reportedly done so that Amazon Games could focus on self-developed titles. This was revealed to CNBC in the company’s internal memo.
The initiatives which will be affected by the same are Game Growth and Crown Channels. It is restated that this part of the restructuring was announced by the studio. Game Growth began as an effort to help game creators to market themselves and their content better to the industry. Crown Chanel was Amazon’s favorite channel on the streaming platform, Twitch.
This will see a shift in focus for Amazon games, titles like Throne and Liberty, Blue Protocol, Tomb Raider, and The Lord of the Rings. The memo which was written by Christoph Hartmann, VP, of Amazon Games read:
I know this is difficult news and that the impact will be felt widely,
Hartmann then talked about the bitter sentiment due to the decision and said:
It never feels good to say goodbye to colleagues. This isn’t a decision the leadership team came to quickly; it was the result of extensive considerations and road mapping for our future.
Not the First Time Amazon Games Laid off Employees This Year
This also led to the company’s share falling by 1%. This is not the first time recently that the company has announced layoffs as part of the restructuring scheme. The latest announcement is the second round of layoffs for the Games department.
Another spell of layoffs was announced just one week ago and was done in the music team. The decision is claimed to be based on customer feedback and this was also stated by Hartmann as he said:
We’ve listened to our customers, and we know delivering free games every month is what they want most, so we are refining our Prime benefit to increase our focus there.
Amazon Games’ previous layoffs happened in April and saw more than 100 employees departing, some of whom were reassigned. The one in April was done to switch strategies and shift focus toward effective content creation. Along with the statement, Hartmann asserted that Amazon Games aimed to be a leading developer and publisher of quality video games.
The experiments involving the restructuring scheme were done to keep true to the company’s aim. While the games division for Amazon has seen layoffs for the second time, Amazon’s studios are hiring currently. This is due to the company doubling down on the creation of new intellectual property. Amazon’s Prime Gaming has been of tremendous value recently offering quality games like Ghostwire: Tokyo recently.
It is worth noting that the layoffs being reported currently are entirely different from the ones that began last year. The ones that began last year affected employees in much larger numbers. A total of 27,000 positions in the company took a hit because of layoffs.
While layoffs are more than unfortunate, the cost-cutting and restructuring strategy from Amazon seems to be paying dividends. In October, Amazon reported that its revenue rose by 13% and net income increased by more than a whopping 300%! Rising from 2.9 billion to 9.9 billion. It will be interesting to see how things unfold for Amazon Games after this round of layoffs.
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