Amazon Games Studio Halts "Significant Amount Of Our First-Party AAA Game Development Work"

Amazon Game Studios announced it is making a major strategy shift when it comes to its video game development and has halted a “significant amount” of its first-part AAA game development.

In an email sent to employees by Amazon’s VP of Audio, Twitch, and Games Boss Steve Boom that was obtained by Variety, he revealed, “Over the last several months, we’ve been evaluating our go-forward plans, specifically through the lens of our mission to deliver the very best gaming experiences to customers while leaning into the things that Amazon does best.”

“We’ve also taken a critical look at the evolving dynamics of games industry and competitive landscape. While we’re proud of our successes in first-party AAA game development and publishing, we have made the difficult decision to halt a significant amount of our first-party AAA game development work – specifically around MMOs – within Amazon Game Studios, including making significant role reductions in our studios in Irvine and San Diego, as well as our central publishing team,” he added.

While they are cutting AAA game development, the email did note the company was “continuing to work with our external studio partners Crystal Dynamics on an upcoming ‘Tomb Raider’ title and Maverick Games on an upcoming open world driving game.”

Boom previously hinted at this strategy shift in an interview with Variety at the beginning of this month while promoting the relaunch of Luna . “We’re continuing down the path with the console-friendly AAA games, which is why you see in the offering, we’re not just launching ‘GameNight,’ but actually expanding the library of AAA games that are available, as well as then games that work for really the non-core gamer, where you can pick up your phone as a controller and have a lot of fun with your family and friends in your living room.”

“If you were to trace the arc of what we’ve released and what we’ve now announced from our games studio, it would actually point in this direction,” he continued. “So what started out in massively multiplayer games, MMOs, we’ve really widened the aperture, if you will. And so you’ve seen announcements for like things like ‘King of Meat,’ ‘Tomb Raider,’ our upcoming driving game, ‘Lord of the Rings,’ and kind of moving more in that direction of what I would call console-friendly titles, known IPs or known play patterns. The MMOs, those are really PC games. We launched ‘New World’ on consoles about a year ago, and it’s done really, really well, but those games at their core appeal to the hardest core-PC gamers.”

Of note, Amazon Game Studios announced that it would no longer create new content for New World Aeternum and hinted that the game will likely be shut down sometime after 2026. A blog post stated, “After four years of steady content updates and a major new console release, we’ve reached a point where it is no longer sustainable to continue supporting the game with new content updates.”

It’s unclear what is happening with the Lord of the Rings game. It was announced back in May 2023 that Amazon Games and Embracer Group were working together to create a new MMO based on The Lord of the Rings. In the press release the game was described as “an open-world MMO adventure in a persistent world set in Middle-earth, featuring the beloved stories of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings literary trilogy.”

Amazon Games VP Christopher Hartmann said at the time, “Bringing players a fresh take on The Lord of the Rings has long been an aspiration for our team, and we’re honored and grateful that Middle-earth Enterprises is entrusting us with this iconic world. We’re also pleased to be expanding our relationship with Embracer Group following our Tomb Raider deal last year, as they’ve proven to be excellent collaborators.”

However, as part of the approximately 14,000 people that were laid off across Amazon including its games division this week, former Senior Gameplay Engineer and Tech Lead Ashleigh Amrine indicated the game was getting scrapped. She wrote on LinkedIn, “This morning I was part of the layoffs at Amazon Games, alongside my incredibly talented peers on New World and our fledgling Lord of the Rings game (y’all would have loved it). It’s always tough to see such a strong team go through something like this - I’ve been lucky to work with some of the most skilled, creative, and kind developers I’ve ever met here.”

However, she has since edited the post and removed the aside.

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