Amazon announced today that it is making “organizational changes” that will result in a reduction of 14,000 staff members. Several of these layoffs will affect the Amazon Game Studios division, with an eye towards moving away from MMO development, according to reports. Its New World and Lord of the Rings game development teams are being most affected, alongside its central publishing division.
Bloomberg shared an internal memo earlier today from Steve Boom, VP of Audio, Twitch and Games, in which he says that the company is making “significant role reductions” in its central publishing division, and the development studios in Irvine and San Diego. It’s also reducing the time it’s investing in triple-A game development.
The same memo affirmed that the company is still working on its Tomb Raider game with Crystal Dynamics, an upcoming driving game with Maverick Games and March of Giants at its Montreal studio — the latter of which, it says, recently had a successful closed alpha. At present, it’s not clear if the unfinished Lord of the Rings MMO is still in development or has been outright canceled.
Amazon shared a note from Beth Galetti, SVP of People Experience, in which she stated, in response to the question of “What we need to remember is that the world is changing quickly. This generation of AI is the most transformative technology we’ve seen since the Internet, and it’s enabling companies to innovate much faster than ever before (in existing market segments and altogether new ones). We’re convinced that we need to be organized more leanly, with fewer layers and more ownership, to move as quickly as possible for our customers and business.”
What does this mean for New World?
While the future of The Lord of the Rings MMO is still in question at the time of this writing, Amazon Games has revealed the fate of its already-launched MMO, New World. An update on the game’s website reveals that the game won’t receive any content updates past the Season 10: Nighthaven update.
The developers state: “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… We’re deeply grateful for every moment you’ve spent helping build this extraordinary world alongside us. It has been an honor to share Aeternum with you, thank you for helping make this game something truly special.”
According to the FAQ, the studio intends to keep the servers running through 2026, and players will still be able to purchase and download the game as well as in-game currency. They added that some seasonal events will continue, but that there will be no new holiday events.