Amazon is ditching MMOs and launching party games

Dear gaming team,

This morning we made a number of changes to our gaming business. Although you may have seen Beth Galetti’s note earlier this morning regarding the larger changes happening today at Amazon, I wanted to dig a little deeper with all of you, since the strategic changes we’re making in gaming go beyond what’s happening at the company level.

Over the past few months, we’ve evaluated our future plans, specifically through the lens of our mission to deliver the best gaming experiences to customers while focusing on the things Amazon does best. We believe this is how we will achieve customer impact that matches Amazon’s scale. Last week’s launch of the all-new Luna is a great example, as it focuses on both streaming entertainment and delivering value to Prime members, two principles that are always top of mind for our group. Luna launched with an impressive catalog of social party games and AAA blockbusters, and we still have a lot to offer from Jeff’s team on that front…it’s still day one.

We also took a critical look at the evolving dynamics of the gaming industry and competitive landscape. While we are proud of our successes in developing and publishing first-party AAA games, we have made the difficult decision to discontinue a significant amount of our first-party AAA game development work – particularly around MMO games – within Amazon Game Studios, including significant role reductions at our studios in Irvine and San Diego, as well as our central publishing team.

Although these changes are important, there is still a lot going on in the game’s development. Our Montreal studio recently wrapped a successful closed alpha build of March of Giants and is working hard to finish the game. Our team has just launched Studio 5 Courtroom Mayhem: Starring Snoop Dogg As a launch title in Luna and they will continue their focus on more casual and AI focused games, optimized for Luna. Finally, we are continuing to work with our external studio partners Crystal Dynamics on an upcoming release Tomb Raider title and Maverick Games in an upcoming open world driving game.

Throughout the day, Christophe and Jeff will communicate more details about how these changes will impact you and your team. Most countries with affected employees have been notified. Our other global centers will follow local operations and will be notified at a later date.

We cannot overlook the fact that days like these are difficult, and we will miss team members whose work and dedication have had an incredible impact on our customers over the years. We do not make these decisions lightly, yet they are essential for us to continue to move our business forward.

Please contact directly with your manager or your HRBP with any specific questions.

Thank you,

Steve