Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) has made another round of job cuts in its gaming division, slashing about 180 jobs as part of a broader restructuring.
According to media reports which cited an email from vice president of Amazon Games Christoph Hartmann, the company began telling impacted employees on Monday morning.
Amazon has cut thousands of jobs company-wide during 2023, including more than 100 in its games division in April.
"After our initial restructuring in April, it became clear that we needed to focus our resources even more on the areas that are growing with the highest potential to drive our business forward," Hartmann wrote in the letter.
In addition to the job cuts, the company is also shuttering the Crown Channel, which streams on Twitch, and Game Growth, an initiative that allowed game makers to promote their titles.
“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 to focus our resources and efforts to deliver great games to players now and in the future.”
Instead, Hartmann said the company would be focusing its efforts on the free games it offers through Prime Gaming to its Prime subscribers.
"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," he said.
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