Amazon has announced a series of layoffs for its game developers, giving them news that they have sixty days to find new positions. This was announced on the last day of E3 2019, marking the end of an event that celebrates the best and brightest of the gaming industry in the future. Talk about bad timing.
Amazon Game Studios is in the middle of development for online games Crucible and New World. Those employees affected by the news have up to sixty days to apply for new positions within Amazon, and those who let the period of time expire will receive severance packages.
A source in the company told Kotaku that Amazon also cancelled projects that had yet to be formally announced, further adding to the speculation that the attempt to move into gaming has not gone as planned.
Although Amazon would not confirm the number of employees affected by the news, they provided a statement saying:
“Amazon Game Studios is reorganising some of our teams to allow us to prioritise development of New World, Crucible, and new unannounced projects we’re excited to reveal in the future,” an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement. “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.”
This is not the first hiccup that Amazon has faced. Although Amazon Game Studios was founded in 2012, it canceled its first project in 2017, Breakaway. Amazon also sought out expert talent in hiring Clint Hocking, the director of Far Cry 2, and Kim Swift, the director of Portal. Neither were with Amazon long enough to see any games formally launched.
In addition, Amazon also purchased studios in Seattle and San Diego, and spent a significant amount of resources for the Crytek engine. To date, none of this has yielded any significant results for the company, and it may only be a matter of time before the company decides to shelve the attempt at video games for good.
For now, those who still have jobs are likely considering the same thing. While not all game developers are affected by the news, everyone must all be wondering for how much longer they have a place at Amazon in their current positions.
The timing of the news comes soon before the release of the Google Stadia, set to launch in November. Unlike Amazon, Google is not developing its own games, but rather creating hardware and infrastructure to stream games made by others through a subscription method.
When one considers how well Amazon already does with its Prime membership, which includes music and other media streaming of films and shows, perhaps they should realign their efforts with that as a focus, rather than attempting to enter into the saturated market of game development.
Food for thought as the technology improves for streaming services, as developing may not be Amazon’s strong suit.