Amazon Games: The year of layoffs does not end well!

In the world of video games, redundancies are on the rise and now Amazon is joining this sad trend. According to a recent report, Amazon is cutting 180 jobs in its games department. This particularly affects the Crown Channel, a Twitch channel supported by Amazon, as well as the Game Growth Team. The aim of these measures is to focus efforts on Prime Gaming, a part of the Amazon Prime subscription that offers free games and in-game content.

 

Confirmation of this news came directly from Amazon, along with a copy of the internal email to employees. Christoph Hartmann, Vice President of Amazon Games, explained in this email that they had listened to the wishes of customers and knew that they especially wanted free games every month. The Prime offer has therefore been refined to focus on this. This change in business strategy will result in the loss of just over 180 jobs.

The Crown Channel, known for its attempts to create synergies between Amazon and Twitch, was never really able to establish itself despite hosting lavish events with numerous streaming stars and occasional celebrities. A Bloomberg report earlier this year even claimed that the channel’s viewer numbers were artificially inflated.
This is the second round of cuts to Amazon’s gaming division this year, after around 100 jobs were cut back in April. Hartmann emphasized that this decision was not taken lightly, but was the result of intensive consideration and planning for the future. Although proud of the work of the teams who had opened up new areas such as weekly content on the Crown Channel, it had become clear after further evaluation of the business areas that a focus of resources was necessary to deliver great games to players now and in the future.

Despite these developments, Amazon reported near-record profit margins in the third quarter of 2023, according to CNBC. But these successes have come at a price: since last fall, Amazon has cut a total of 27,000 jobs, underscoring the impact of this corporate strategy on the workforce.