Amazon is getting rid of its gaming content channel amid larger games layoffs

Hello everyone,

I have some important news to share with you all today regarding the future of our company.

As I’ve shared before, our goal for Amazon Games is to become a leading creator of high-quality gaming content that will delight gamers for years to come. Part of this bold vision involves experimentation as we explore what players want most and we regularly review these experiments to ensure we are creating the greatest impact.

After our initial restructuring in April, it became clear that we needed to focus our resources even more on the areas of growth and greatest potential to move our business forward. That’s why the management 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 on Prime Gaming. We’ve listened to our customers and we know that giving them free games every month is what they want most. So we’re refining our Prime benefit to focus more on it. These changes in our commercial approach are accompanied by changes in our resources, resulting in the elimination of just over 180 positions.

I know this is difficult news and the impact will be widely felt. It never feels good to say goodbye to colleagues. This is not a decision that the management team came to quickly; it was the result of careful consideration and a roadmap for our future. We’re proud of the work the teams are doing, entering 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 operations, it became clear that we needed to focus our resources and efforts on delivering great games to players now and in the future.

Every employee whose role has been impacted should now have a live meeting scheduled this morning so we can discuss these changes directly. We also ensure that all affected employees receive the support they need on an individual level, including severance packages, outplacement services, health insurance benefits and more. Your managers, business leaders and HRBPs are available for conversations and we have a licensed advisor available 24/7 through our Employee Assistance Program.

I recognize that this is the second time this year that you’ve heard about organization-wide shifts and seen colleagues leave, so let me be very clear when I say this: I remain confident in our future. We’re developing and publishing great games with great potential, our studio teams are growing, and our track record is brilliant. We are focusing on our upcoming publication launches for Throne and Liberty And Blue protocolas well as future projects like our Tomb Raider And The Lord of the Rings games, and our projects with Glowmade and Disruptive Games. Our in-house studios are actively recruiting and hiring to fill critical roles as they develop new intellectual properties, while Prime Gaming continues to close deals and deliver compelling content to its members every month. We are committed to our vision of becoming a leading developer and publisher of high-quality games, and focusing our resources accordingly will help us achieve this.