Amazon Game Studios Lays Off Employees Amid Cancelled Game Rumors
Amazon’s game development team – under the division name Amazon Game Studios – may have stunted its growth before it ever had a chance to take flight. It has been revealed that Amazon has laid off what is for now an unconfirmed number of employees, and has also reportedly cancelled multiple unannounced game projects according to statements from the company.
Kotaku initially reported the news last week at the tail end of E3, stating that its sources revealed that those affected by the Amazon Game Studios layoffs were given a buffer of 60 days in order to seek out alternate employment options within the company before an official termination. For those that are unable to find employment within Amazon, severance packages will be handed out.
That isn’t the only bad news, as Amazon has reportedly also chosen to cancel several of its unannounced projects. That said, this will apparently not affect the two known projects that Amazon Game Studios is working on: Crucible, and New World. “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,” Amazon stated in a message to Kotaku.
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.”
Both Crucible and New World are still in development for a future release.
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Ryan "Cinna" Carrier3026 Posts
Ryan is the Lead Editor for Don't Feed the Gamers. When he isn't writing, Ryan is likely considering yet another playthrough of Final Fantasy IX. He's also the DFTG cinnamon bun.
