Amazon is laying off over 14,000 corporate jobs that includes “significant” cuts to its video game business, according to a message sent to staff obtained by Bloomberg.
The “significant role reductions” in video games at Amazon will mainly be at its Irvine and San Diego offices, as well as its publishing division. The company will reduce the work it does on big budget games, particularly its massively multiplayer online (MMO) games. The layoffs show Amazon is moving away from online games like New World.
Amazon vice president of Audio, Twitch, and Games Steve Boom in the memo stated the company is “leaning into the things that Amazon does best.”
Amazon’s game division will see its Montreal studio continue to work on the strategy game, March of Giants. There will also be continued development on “casual and AI-focused games” for Amazon’s cloud gaming service Luna.
The external studio Crystal Dynamics will continue its work on the next Tomb Raider game and the UK-based Maverick Games will continue to develop a racing title.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D’Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can follow the author on Bluesky.
Full Article – https://www.vgchartz.com/article/466124/amazon-laying-off-14000-corporate-jobs-including-significant-cuts-to-games-business/
