Amazon Game Studios has canceled multiple games and laid off many developers from the studio during this year E3 2019. The company confirmed the report made by Kotaku, and said that they are working with the affected employees to move them to other divisions within Amazon.
Though Amazon confirmed the layoffs, Kotaku reports that dozens of employees have been affected by this decision, and will have 60 days to find something new within Amazon. Otherwise, they will be receiving a severance package with a release from the company.
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
The report goes on to say that multiple unannounced games have also been canceled. On this matter, Amazon says that it is aiming to prioritize development of New World, Crucible and new unannounced projects that they are excited to reveal in the future. This clearly means that these titles are still in the works.
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 is deeply committed to games and continues to invest heavily in Amazon Game Studios, Twitch, Twitch Prime, Amazon Web Services, our retail businesses, and other areas within Amazon.
Amazon first started its steps in the video game division back in 2014. However, things have not gone so great for Amazon Game Studios so far, with the company having to cancel its first game Breakway in 2018. It also hired some big names like the director of Far Cry 2 Clint Hocking and director of Portal Kim Swift. Both of them left the company before shipping any games. Amazon has also heavily invested in the Crytek engine to create Lumberyard, which has not been so great since its release in 2016.
What do you think of the layoffs and the cancellation of multiple games? Post your comments below.
