Amazon making ‘significant’ cuts to games business, moving away from MMOs
New World’s developer is affected by sweeping cuts at Amazon Games
Amazon is making “significant” cuts to its video game business and moving away from MMO development, it’s announced.
In a message to staff reviewed by Bloomberg, the company said it would eliminate more than 14,000 corporate jobs, many of which affect its game development and publishing business.
Specifically, the San Diego and Irvine development studios, which are responsible for MMOs New World and an untitled The Lord of the Rings game, have seen significant reductions, according to Steve Boom, vice president of Audio, Twitch, and Games.
“While we’re proud of our successes in first-party AAA game development and publishing, we have made the difficult decision to halt a significant amount of our first-party AAA game development work – specifically around MMOs – within Amazon Game Studios,” he wrote.
This includes “making significant role reductions in our studios in Irvine and San Diego, as well as our central publishing team,” he added.
Amazon Games Orange County (formerly Double Helix Games), which is based in Irvine, California, released New World in September 2021.
The layoffs come days after Amazon relaunched its Luna gaming service, which has been redesigned to appeal to a wider range of players. This includes the addition of GameNight, a new selection of party games designed for casual players.
According to the internal memo, Amazon will continue to work on various game projects, including the next Tomb Raider game with Crystal Dynamics, and Maverick Games’ open world driving game.
“While these changes are significant, we still have a lot going on in game development,” Boom wrote. “Our Montreal studio recently concluded a successful closed alpha of March of Giants and is working hard to finish the game.
“Our Studio 5 team just released Courtroom Chaos: Starring Snoop Dogg as the launch title in Luna and will continue their focus on more casual and AI-focused games, optimized for Luna. Finally, we are continuing to work with our external studio partners Crystal Dynamics on an upcoming Tomb Raider title and Maverick Games on an upcoming open world driving game.”
