Amazon Games will bear the brunt of a company-wide layoff, as Amazon cuts over 14,000 corporate jobs across the board as part of an effort to 'reduce bureaucracy' within the company. Although the exact number of affected Amazon Games staff is currently unknown, the layoffs will hurt its San Diego and Irvine offices, with the latter responsible for the development of New World: Aeternum.
The company-wide layoffs at Amazon will also have the unfortunate effect of reducing the amount of work that Amazon Games will have on big-budget games. These games include open-world MMORPGs like New World: Aeternum, which once had its player count peak at over 913,000 on Steam. The ongoing development of New World: Aeternum, which recently launched its Nighthaven season update, is primarily handled at Amazon Games' Irvine campus. Amazon's gaming division also handles the publishing of other MMORPGs available on Steam , such as Lost Ark and Throne and Liberty, in North America and Europe.
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Amazon To Cut Over 14,000 Jobs
Unfortunately, Amazon Games will soon face an unspecified yet significant number of staff cuts. Starting October 28, Amazon will lay off over 14,000 staff members from their posts. The layoffs are reportedly part of a company-wide effort to increase its usage of artificial intelligence in place of some jobs. Amazon Games will bear some of that burden, as a company-wide memo to staff stated that its San Diego and Irvine game studios will see a significant reduction in staff. However, the exact number of affected jobs at Amazon Games and other divisions like Amazon Luna and Twitch remains unclear as of this writing. The cuts will also affect the continued development of New World: Aeternum. The memo also stated that Amazon would reduce the work it does on major AAA games, including MMORPGs, as part of these layoffs. Amazon Games' central publishing team will also see staff cuts.
Throughout 2022 and 2023, Amazon laid off over 27,000 employees as a way to cut costs following the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the loss of over 14,000 Amazon staff members would dwarf the summer layoffs that Microsoft made, as the latter released over 9,000 former staffers across the board. The Microsoft layoffs had a significant impact on its gaming studios, with projects like Perfect Dark and Everwild being canceled as a result.
With services like Amazon Web Services recently facing technical issues, the incoming staff cuts will undeniably have an impact on other companies that rely on Amazon in some capacity. It remains to be seen how deep the Amazon Games staff cuts will run.