Amazon.com Inc. laid off about 100 workers in its video-game divisions as a part of its broader cutbacks, affecting staff at Prime Gaming, Game Growth and the corporate’s San Diego studio.
“Our resources will be aligned to support our focus on content,” Games Vice President Christoph Hartmann wrote in a memo to workers Tuesday. “Going forward, we will continue to invest in our internal development efforts, and our teams will continue to grow as our projects progress.”
Amazon has struggled to capitalize on its assets in gaming, together with thru its Crown channel, an leisure display at the Twitch streaming carrier. Twitch lately reduce about 400 positions. The corporate has canceled or even got rid of titles from sale because the department kicked off in 2012.
Amazon has handiest launched one internally advanced recreation — the net role-playing identify New World, which suffered a steep decline in its participant base after the September 2021 release. The Irvine, California-based New World crew will keep growing, Hartmann mentioned.
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Despite the layoffs, workers running on an unannounced venture from the San Diego studio will “double down on the pre-production phase” of the sport, Hartmann mentioned. Amazon’s studio in Montreal, additionally running on an unannounced venture, will proceed to amplify.
Amazon did see good fortune with publishing the South Korean on-line role-playing recreation Lost Ark. Hartmann mentioned the corporate will develop its third-party publishing efforts, which come with a contemporary settlement with NCSoft Corp.
Shares of Amazon rose 0.9% to $103.29 at 2:02 pm in New York.
The corporate’s gaming staff has additionally observed government turnover. Hartmann’s predecessor, Amazon Game Studios boss Mike Frazzini, stepped down remaining 12 months. Veteran gaming government John Smedley, who helped run the San Diego place of job, introduced plans to depart in January.