Amazon Game Studios Lays Off Another 180 Employees, No MMOs Affected

Amazon Game Studios has laid off another batch of employees in its second round of mass layoffs this year (the third for Amazon overall). Sources told Aftermath that another 180 workers from multiple gaming divisions were given their pink slips, including Twitch, Crown Channel, and Game Growth.

The 100 employees that were laid off back in April also came from the said divisions. On the whole, over 27,000 employees have been dismissed from the entire Amazon umbrella over the past year.

According to Amazon Games VP Christoph Hartmann, the dismissals are in line with their efforts to reorganize Prime Gaming, the gaming portion of its Amazon Prime subscription.

“We’ve listened to our customers and we know delivering free games every month is what they want most, so we are refining our Prime benefit to increase our focus there,” Hartmann wrote in an internal email. “With these changes in our business approach come changes to our resourcing, resulting in the elimination of just over 180 roles.”

Hartmann confirmed in the same memo that no development studios and MMORPG’s were affected by the layoffs. That includes operational games like Blue Protocol and Throne and Liberty, and The Lord of the Rings MMO.

“We are developing and publishing great games with high potential, our studio teams are growing, and our roap is bright,” he said. “Our internal studios are actively recruiting and hiring to fill critical roles as they develop new IP, while Prime Gaming continues to secure deals and deliver compelling content for every month. We are committed to our vision of becoming one of the leading developers and publishers of high-quality games, and focusing our resources accordingly will help us get there.”