Amazon lays off over 100 employees in video games unit: Report

Amazon has reportedly laid off more than 100 employees in its video games division. This is part of the layoffs the company announced earlier this year.

The job cuts impacted employees across Prime Gaming, Game Growth, and in Amazon’s San Diego studio, CNBC reported, based on a memo from Christoph Hartmann, Vice President of Amazon Games. Some employees have been reassigned to “other projects that match our strategic focus”, Hartmann added in the memo.

“There is never a pleasant way to share this sort of news, but we are committed to treating our impacted employees with empathy and respect, and will support them by offering them severance pay, health insurance benefits, outplacement services, and paid time to conduct their job search,” he noted.

Amazon’s workforce reduction is part of its cost-cutting efforts, similar to other tech companies globally. Last month, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy announced plans to slash more than 9,000 jobs in its second round of layoffs over the past three months. In January, the ecommerce firm had confirmed that it was laying off more than 18,000 roles.

“This was a difficult decision, but one that we think is best for the company long term,” Jassy wrote in a note to employees posted to the company’s blog. 

Other big tech firms like Meta, Microsoft, Google, and Apple have disclosed plans to reduce their respective workforces.