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Amazon Games is undergoing a significant overhaul, marking the second major shift in strategy within a year with layoffs across its Prime Gaming, Crown Twitch channel, and Game Growth businesses. Following the initial restructuring in April, which resulted in the elimination of 100 jobs, the latest move involves cutting around 180 positions. This time, the focus is on reshaping the gaming landscape by shutting down its Twitch channel and game creator marketplace. Prime Gaming is redirecting a small portion of its efforts toward bringing in more Free games with Prime.
In an email obtained by The Verge, Christoph Hartmann, the vice president of Amazon Games, emphasized the need to concentrate resources on areas with the highest potential for business growth. Hartmann stated, “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.”
Prime Gaming, which provides various gaming services, is undergoing significant transformations. As part of Prime Gaming, Amazon offered a platform that assisted game creators in global marketing efforts called Game Growth platform. Amazon’s Crown channel, a source of gaming content on Twitch, and the Game Growth platform are shutting down, as reiterated by Hartmann.
Amid layoffs, Amazon Games is actively recruiting to fill essential positions for the development of new games
Despite these closures, he expressed pride in the team’s work, acknowledging their efforts to explore new avenues with weekly content on the Crown Channel and supporting publishers in reaching broader audiences with Game Growth. Hartmann clarified, “it became clear that we need focus our resources and efforts to deliver great games to players now and in the future.”
As part of the restructuring, Amazon is refining its Prime Gaming benefit. The $139 annual Prime membership, known for free shipping and streaming video services, will now place a heightened focus on delivering free games monthly, aligning with customer preferences. Hartmann stated, “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.”
Looking ahead, Hartmann shared exciting news about upcoming releases. He writes, “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.”