Amazon just sent home over 180 employees in its gaming division indefinitely, and it’s also altering some of its gaming initiatives, according to a leaked email sent to the fired Amazon employees.
“After our initial restructuring in April, it became clear that we needed to focus our resources even more on the areas that are growing with the highest potential to drive our business forward,” said Christoph Hartmann, vice president of Amazon Games, in the email.
The company also plans to cut its Crown Channel and Game Growth initiatives and focus more on its Prime Gaming.
“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,” wrote Hartmann.
This isn’t the first time Amazon has slashed its gaming division. In April, it laid off roughly 100 employees, but said that the staffers have been reassigned to projects “that match our strategic focus,” according to a memo obtained by CNBC.
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The new round of layoffs come a week after it dismissed an unknown amount of employees in its music department, specifically affecting Amazon Music’s editorial and audio content team. The online retail giant has cut around 27,000 over the year, with the layoffs in January leading the highest round of job cuts which left 18,000 people without jobs.
The recent moves to cut jobs appears to be part of a larger initiative by Amazon CEO Andy Jassy to trim costs.
“We will work hard to spend wisely and maintain our lean culture,” said Jassy in his 2022 letter to shareholders. “We understand the importance of continually reinforcing a cost-conscious culture, particularly in a business incurring net losses.”
You can read the whole leaked email from Hartmann on the company’s latest round of job cuts in the gaming division below:
Hello everyone,
I have some important news to share with you all today about the future of our business.
As I’ve shared previously, our goal for Amazon Games is to become one of the leading creators of high-quality gaming content that delights players for years to come. Part of this bold vision involves experimentation as we explore what gamers want most and we regularly review these experiments to ensure we’re creating the most impact.
After our initial restructuring in April, it became clear that we needed to focus our resources even more on the areas that are growing with the highest potential to drive our business forward. As such, the leadership team and I have made the difficult decision to close two of our initiatives – Crown Channel and Game Growth. We are also refocusing our efforts for Prime Gaming. 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. With these changes in our business approach come changes to our resourcing, resulting in the elimination of just over 180 roles.
I know this is difficult news and that the impact will be felt widely. It never feels good to say goodbye to colleagues. This isn’t a decision the leadership team came to quickly; it was the result of extensive considerations and road mapping for our future. 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.
Each employee whose role has been impacted should now have a live meeting scheduled this morning so we can discuss these changes directly. We are also working to ensure all impacted employees are given the support they need on an individual level, including severance pay, outplacement services, health insurance benefits and more. Your managers, business leaders and HRBPs are available for conversations and we have a licensed counselor available 24/7 through our Employee Assistance Program.
I recognize that this is the second time this year that you are hearing about org-wide team changes and seeing colleagues go, so let me be very clear when I say this: I remain confident in our future. We are developing and publishing great games with high potential, our studio teams are growing, and our roadmap is bright. We are focused on our upcoming publishing launches for Throne and Liberty and Blue Protocol, as well as future projects like our Tomb Raider and The Lord of the Rings games, and our projects with Glowmade and Disruptive Games. 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 members 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.”
