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Amazon Games cut 180 jobs shortly after Amazon report massive profits"Roadmapping for our future"
“Roadmapping for our future”
Image credit:Amazon
Image credit:Amazon
2023’s games industry jobapocalypse continues with news that Amazon Games are laying off 180 people. This includes the entirety of the Twitch service Crown Channel, plus its Game Growth division, and accompanies a shift in focus for the company’s Prime Gaming service.
“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,” Amazon Games VP Cristoph Hartmann wrote in the email. “With these changes in our business approach come changes to our resourcing, resulting in the elimination of just over 180 roles.”
Launched in 2020, Crown Channel was a gaming, celeb and pop culture channel with gamified elements that let viewers steer the direction of shows via Twitch chat, polls and on-screen minigames. According to Bloomberg, Amazon havesignificantly exaggerated its audience numbers. Game Growth was a kind of R&D division devoted to “reimagining how game creators promote their products across the globe”.
“We are proud of the work the teams have been doing, pushing into new areas with weekly content on Crown Channel, and finding more ways to help publishers reach new audiences with Game Growth. But after further evaluation of our businesses, it became clear that we need focus our resources and efforts to deliver great games to players now and in the future.”
Update 15th November 2023: Following publication of this piece, Amazon have clarified that the closure of Crown Channel and Game Growth are not directly related to their shift in focus regarding Prime Gaming, and we’ve amended our intro accordingly.
