E-commerce giant Amazon has recently laid off employees in its video games division.
The company reportedly let go about 100 employees in its gaming division as part of its broader cutbacks, affecting workers at Prime Gaming, Game Growth, and the company’s San Diego studio, an offering targeted at members of Amazon’s mainstay loyalty program.
The vice president of Amazon Games, Christoph Hartmann wrote in a companywide memo,
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“After evaluating our current projects against our long-term goals, the Games leadership team made the difficult decision to eliminate just over 100 roles across Prime Gaming, Game Growth, and in our San Diego studio, while also reassigning some employees to other projects that match our strategic focus.
“Each employee whose role has been eliminated should now have a live meeting scheduled this morning so we can discuss these changes directly and give each employee an opportunity to ask questions. There is never a pleasant way to share this sort of news, but we are committed to treating our impacted employees with empathy and respect and will support them by offering them severance pay, health insurance benefits, outplacement services, and paid time to conduct their job search.
“Going forward, our resources will be aligned to support our focus on content. We will continue to invest in our internal development efforts, and our teams will continue to grow as our projects progress: The New World team in Irvine will grow as we shift some resources to further support its continued development”.
The layoff comes as Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has moved to rein in costs across the company. The news is also coming just weeks after Amazon outlined plans to slash 9,000 positions, including some at the livestreaming service Twitch.
Amazon’s video games division has experienced some turnover among its top ranks. Mike Frazzini, who helped launch Amazon’s game studios, stepped down last March. And in January, John Smedley, who headed up Amazon Games’ San Diego studio, exited the company.
It is interesting to note that Amazon’s history in video games is riddled with expensive failures. Since its launch in 2013, Amazon Games has struggled to produce a hit despite several published projects, and the company luring top talent from the likes of Sony Online Entertainment.
The company’s only significant game to hit the market, a racing game based on the TV series The Grand Tour, flopped so badly that Amazon removed it from digital shelves a year after its release. According to Bloomberg, Amazon spends about $500 million per year on its games division.