According to Bloomberg, Amazon.com Inc. has made massive layoffs in its video game division, affecting about 100 employees at Prime Gaming, Game Growth and the company’s San Diego-based studio.
Our resources will be aligned with our focus on content,” wrote Christoph Hartmann, vice president of Amazon Games, in a memo to employees on Tuesday. Going forward, we will continue to invest in our internal development efforts and our team will continue to grow as the progress of our project.”
The layoffs are part of a broader layoff plan by Amazon.com, which plans to reduce its workforce by about 9,000 employees worldwide. Amazon’s games division has faced challenges over the past few years, with several of its game projects cancelled or delayed, including “The New World” and “Crusader Kings.
Despite this, Amazon remains confident in its gaming business and has made several agreements with external partners. For example, Amazon has an agreement with NCSOFT to bring the massively multiplayer online role-playing game Thrones & Freedom to North America, South America, Europe and Japan. Amazon also has an agreement with Crystal Dynamics to develop and release the next instalment of the classic game series Tomb Raider.
Amazon has also launched its own cloud gaming service, Luna, which allows users to easily play a variety of games on their existing devices without having to wait for long downloads. Luna is still in beta and requires an invitation to use.
