Amazon has laid off around 100 employees from its video games division, according to a memo sent to staff on Tuesday. The cuts included employees in the Game Growth group, Prime Gaming, and Amazon's San Diego gaming studio. Amazon Games Vice President Christoph Hartmann said in the memo that some staff members would be reassigned to other projects that matched the company's strategic focus.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has been trying to cut costs across the company and recently announced that Amazon would lay off an additional 9,000 employees. Amazon has also implemented a hiring freeze and closed some experimental proj
ects, including a telehealth service and a sidewalk delivery robot. Since launching in 2013, Amazon Games has struggled to produce a hit despite luring top talent from companies like Sony Online Entertainment. The company's first big-budget game, Crucible, was canceled after a few months, and the PC game New World experienced some early success before Amazon released the online action role-playing game Lost Ark last February. The video games division has also experienced some turnover among its top ranks.
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