Amazon Games is reportedly preparing for a new wave of layoffs as part of Amazon’s broader plan to cut over 14,000 corporate positions across multiple divisions. The reductions, which are said to begin on October 28, will impact several internal game studios — including the company’s Irvine and San Diego offices — as Amazon attempts to restructure its gaming operations and “reduce bureaucracy.”
According to an internal memo obtained by Bloomberg and Business Insider, Amazon’s leadership described the layoffs as a “necessary step” toward streamlining the organization and increasing reliance on artificial intelligence (AI) to improve efficiency. Unfortunately, the decision is expected to have significant consequences for Amazon Games’ active and upcoming projects.
🎮 Amazon Games Caught in the Crossfire
While the total number of affected staff within Amazon Games has not been confirmed, sources suggest that both the San Diego and Irvine studios will be heavily impacted. The Irvine team, best known for developing the popular MMORPG New World: Aeternum, is expected to see the most significant cuts.
New World: Aeternum, which at one point reached over 913,000 concurrent players on Steam, has been a rare success for Amazon Games since its 2021 debut. The studio recently released its Nighthaven season update, continuing to support and expand the title’s player base. However, internal reports now suggest that the ongoing development of New World: Aeternum may slow down, as fewer resources and developers remain assigned to the project.
Amazon’s San Diego studio, originally established to explore new IPs and experimental online projects, will reportedly face a similar restructuring. While some teams may be merged or reassigned to other projects, others are expected to be let go entirely.
🧩 A Shift Away From AAA Ambitions
In the internal memo, Amazon executives hinted that the layoffs would also result in a “strategic scaling down” of big-budget, AAA game development. The company plans to focus more narrowly on publishing partnerships and existing IP rather than funding multiple in-house projects simultaneously.
Amazon Games currently serves as the publisher for major MMORPGs such as Lost Ark and Throne and Liberty in North America and Europe — both of which will reportedly remain unaffected by the layoffs. However, the publisher’s central publishing and marketing teams are expected to lose staff as part of the cuts, potentially impacting future collaborations.
The company’s internal game development roadmap — which once included several unannounced large-scale projects — is now being reevaluated. Some sources claim that unannounced titles have already been paused or canceled, though Amazon has yet to confirm which ones.
💼 Amazon’s Broader Cost-Cutting Initiative
The cuts at Amazon Games are part of a much larger company-wide restructuring. Amazon confirmed plans to eliminate over 14,000 corporate jobs, marking one of its most significant reductions in recent history.
The company cited the move as part of an effort to “remove layers of bureaucracy” and accelerate the adoption of AI-driven workflows, automating certain operations once handled by employees.
This isn’t the first time Amazon has reduced its gaming workforce. Between 2022 and 2023, the company laid off more than 27,000 employees across its various divisions, including Twitch and Amazon Studios. Those layoffs followed the end of the post-pandemic boom, as tech giants adjusted to slowing growth and rising operational costs.
However, this latest round — involving 14,000 more cuts — is expected to be even more significant in scope, surpassing even the 9,000 layoffs made by Microsoft earlier this year.
🕹️ Impact on Amazon’s Gaming Ecosystem
The layoffs are expected to affect multiple parts of Amazon’s gaming ecosystem, including:
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Amazon Games (Irvine & San Diego) – Development staff working on New World: Aeternum and internal projects.
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Amazon Luna – The company’s cloud gaming service, which has struggled to compete with rivals like Xbox Cloud Gaming and GeForce NOW.
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Twitch – The live-streaming platform has already experienced several rounds of layoffs since 2023, but further cuts are reportedly planned.
As Amazon Games repositions itself within the company’s broader AI-first strategy, some employees have expressed concerns about the long-term viability of its creative divisions. Several developers have reportedly questioned whether the company’s commitment to AI integration could ultimately replace or reduce the human input that drives game design.
🔮 The Future of Amazon Games Remains Uncertain
Despite the shakeup, Amazon insists that it remains committed to gaming as a core part of its entertainment portfolio. The company continues to publish successful titles, invest in its proprietary Lumberyard engine (now open-sourced as Open 3D Engine), and explore opportunities for cross-platform cloud integration through Amazon Web Services.
However, with morale reportedly low and projects facing uncertainty, it’s clear that Amazon Games is entering a pivotal moment. Whether the company can stabilize its development teams and maintain its creative vision amid financial pressure and AI-driven restructuring remains to be seen.
For now, players of New World: Aeternum, Lost Ark, and Throne and Liberty can expect ongoing updates — but the pace and scale of Amazon Games’ ambitions may be very different from what the company originally envisioned.