Amazon's Gaming Division Lays Off About 100 Employees

As part of its broader cost-cutting measures, Amazon.com Inc. laid off about 100 workers in its video game division as part of the company's broader restructuring plans, affecting employees at Prime Gaming, Game Growth, and the company's San Diego studio, among others.

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"We will align our resources in order to support our focus on content," Games Vice President Christoph Hartmann wrote in a memo he sent to all employees on Tuesday. "As a result, we will continue to invest in our internal development efforts, and we will continue to grow our team in line with the progress of our projects going forward." 

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As of now, Amazon has had a difficult time capitalizing on its gaming resources, including through its Crown channel, an entertainment show that you can watch on the Twitch streaming service. Twitch recently cut about 400 positions. It is worth mentioning that since the division was launched in 2012, the company has had to cancel and even remove titles from the sale. 

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There has only been one Amazon original game released so far - New World, an online role-playing game that has seen a sharp decline in its player base since its launch in September 2021. Hartmann said that the New World team based in Irvine, California, will continue to grow in the near future. 

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Despite the layoffs, Hartmann said that employees working on an ongoing unannounced project at the studio in San Diego would "double down" on pre-production of the game regardless of the layoffs. It is expected that Amazon's studio in Montreal, also working on a project that has yet to be announced, will continue to expand. 

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As a result of Amazon's publishing of the South Korean online role-playing game Lost Ark, the company experienced some success. Moreover, Hartmann said that there is a plan for the company to expand its third-party publishing efforts, which include a recent agreement with NCSoft Corporation.

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On the New York Stock Exchange, Amazon's shares rose 0.9% to $103.29 at 2:02 p.m.

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There have also been a lot of turnovers among the company's gaming division's executives. Last year, Hartmann's predecessor, Mike Frazzini, the president of Amazon Game Studios, stepped down from the post. In January, veteran gaming executive John Smedley, who served as general manager of the San Diego office, announced his intention to leave the company.