Amazon is getting rid of its gaming content channel amid larger games layoffs
By Jay Peters, a news editor who writes about technology, video games, and virtual worlds. He’s submitted several accepted emoji proposals to the Unicode Consortium.
Amazon is cutting “just over” 180 jobs in its games division and making some changes to its games initiatives, according to a memo sent to employees by VP of Amazon Games Christoph Hartmann. The changes include shutting down its Crown channel that streams on Twitch, closing its Game Growth effort that helps game makers market their products, and “refocusing” efforts around its free games offered through Prime Gaming.
“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,” Hartmann wrote. “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.” Reuters reported on the memo earlier on Monday, and you can read the full email, which Amazon shared with The Verge, at the end of this story.
As for Prime Gaming’s free games, which you can access if you are an Amazon Prime subscriber, “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,” Hartmann wrote. Amazon spokesperson Brittney Hefner declined to share more specifics about what’s changing.
The new changes follow layoffs announced in April of more than 100 staffers in Amazon’s games organization. Those layoffs affected staffers in Prime Gaming, Game Growth, and at the company’s San Diego studio. More broadly, Amazon has cut thousands of jobs throughout
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