Amazon has laid off more than 100 employees of its gaming division and reassigned workers to other structural units.
Source: motionarray.com
Amazon Games Vice President Christoph Hartmann noted in an internal memo that the decision to cut 100 jobs was made after the gaming division evaluated its current projects in the context of activities aimed at achieving long-term strategic goals.
This note also contains information about the company’s intention to focus its available resources on supporting attention to content. Amazon will continue to direct investment funds for the implementation of plans for the development of the firm. Christoph Hartmann separately stressed that the teams of specialists will expand as the main projects of the Internet giant move forward.
The workforce cuts affected the divisions of Prime Gaming, Game Growth, and the studio in San Diego. Amazon Games continues to work on an unannounced project that is under development in a studio in Montreal, and an unannounced game that is in pre-production in a studio in San Diego.
The company’s publishing efforts will continue to expand. Optimization of retail and server teams in Amazon Games and Prime Gaming is also planned for the near future.
Christoph Hartmann in a memo stated his confidence in the correctness and prospects of the direction in which the company is moving. He noted that Amazon Games has gained momentum in recent years thanks to hard work, dedication, and commitment to players. The division has launched two games and announced seven projects. Even more, products are currently in development. These projects are an addition to the new Crown shows and Prime gaming content.
At the end of March, Amazon announced its intention to lay off 9 thousand workers of in the cloud computing, Twitch live broadcast, and advertising divisions. This decision is a continuation of the campaign to reduce the workforce, as part of which 18,000 Amazon employees were laid off in January. These layoffs affected the company’s stores and branches of People, Experience, and Technology (PXT).
Amazon CEO Andy Jassi said that the process of reducing the workforce is gradual because the company’s divisions at different times assess their condition in terms of financial and technical prospects. He noted that over the past few years, the number of employees has increased significantly, and this was the right decision against the backdrop of the then state of affairs in the economy.
The current realities in the economic sphere, where signs of stability and harbingers of its imminent appearance are absent, according to the company’s CEO, require a more rational approach to costs and the number of employees.
