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What Amazon Games announced in October 2025
Amazon Games vice president Steve Boom’s memo, reported on October 28, said the company would halt a significant amount of first-party AAA game development, especially MMO work, and reduce roles in its Irvine and San Diego studios and central publishing team. PC Gamer reported the memo, which described a strategic change within Amazon Games as well as participation in Amazon’s wider corporate cuts.
The memo did not state a Games-specific layoff count. Amazon’s separate companywide announcement put corporate role reductions at approximately 14,000; that figure should not be read as the number of Amazon Games jobs eliminated. Amazon’s October 2025 statement said the company was reducing layers and bureaucracy and shifting resources toward customer priorities and strategic investments.
What happened to New World
Amazon’s October 28, 2025 update said the Season 10 and Nighthaven update would be the final content release for New World on PC and consoles. The update also said Rise of the Angry Earth would be made free for all PC players so they could experience the content. These details were reproduced in PC Gamer’s report on the game.
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Amazon planned to keep the game’s servers live through 2026 and said it would give players at least six months’ notice before changes that affected their ability to play. That was the timeline announced in October 2025, not a guarantee of indefinite service or new content.
How the 2025 cuts differ from Amazon Games’ 2023 restructuring
Amazon Games also reduced roles in 2023, but that was a separate restructuring with different stated priorities. In November 2023, the company said it would close Crown Channel and Game Growth, refocus Prime Gaming on monthly free games, and eliminate just over 180 roles. In April of that year, Reuters had reported about 100 Amazon Games jobs cut.
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| Round | Scope and strategy | Disclosed count |
|---|---|---|
| April 2023 | Amazon Games roles cut in a broader restructuring, as reported by Reuters. | About 100, according to Reuters via Investing.com. |
| November 2023 | Crown Channel and Game Growth closed; Prime Gaming refocused on monthly free games. | Just over 180, according to the Amazon Games memo reproduced by TechCrunch and GeekWire. |
| October 2025 | Significant reductions in Irvine and San Diego studios and central publishing; halt to a significant amount of first-party AAA development, especially MMO work. | Not stated in the October 2025 Games report; PC Gamer reported the memo but no division tally. |
The 2023 announcement’s monthly-free-games emphasis came from Amazon Games vice president Christoph Hartmann, who said the company was refining the Prime benefit to focus on what customers wanted most. The 2025 announcement instead centered on reducing first-party AAA development. Treating the two as one continuous layoff announcement obscures the distinct programs and dates involved.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What Amazon Games’ layoffs do—and do not—mean
The October 2025 announcement was a pullback from a significant amount of first-party AAA and MMO development, not a statement that all Amazon game activity was ending. Amazon’s Games website, reviewed October 7, 2026, continued to list Luna content and games included with Prime. Those current offerings are separate from the 2025 staffing announcement and do not establish what projects or services may change in the future.
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For employees, Amazon’s companywide workforce statement said most impacted employees would have 90 days to seek another internal role, with timing varying under local laws. It also described severance, outplacement services, and health-insurance benefits for employees who did not find or seek another role. Those are companywide terms; the statement does not establish identical support for every Games employee or jurisdiction.
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