This week has seen Amazon Game Studios laying off "dozens" of their Game Studio employees, who have been given 60 days to find another job within the Amazon company or receive a severance package on their way out the door. The news comes from an article in Kotaku that reports the layoffs were made during the week of E3, and that Amazon Game Studios has also had to cancel some unannounced games.
In a statement made to Kotaku, Amazon said:
“Amazon Game Studios is reorganizing some of our teams to allow us to prioritize development of New World, Crucible, and new unannounced projects we’re excited to reveal in the future,” an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement. “These moves are the result of regular business planning cycles where we align resources to match evolving, long-range priorities. We’re working closely with all employees affected by these changes to assist them in finding new roles within Amazon. Amazon is deeply committed to games and continues to invest heavily in Amazon Game Studios, Twitch, Twitch Prime, AWS, our retail businesses, and other areas within Amazon.”
Amazon first began its foray into the video game world back in 2014, although things really haven’t gone well for the studio so far, with the company canceling its first game, Breakaway, back in 2017. Some of their most high-profile hires, like Far Cry 2 director Clint Hocking and Portal director Kim Swift, left the company before they even managed to ship any games. Looks like all isn't well down at Amazon.
