Amazon lays off 180 gaming employees, shuts down Crown Channel

Amazon Games today joins the list of gaming companies hit by layoffs. According to a memo circulated within the company, 180 employees will be affected by Amazon’s new cutbacks, which will include the entire Gaming Growth department and the Crown channel on Twitch. The company apparently plans to refine its Prime Gaming offering while focusing its attention on the upcoming games in its development calendar.

Christoph Hartman, Amazon’s VP of Games, sent out the memo (obtained by The Verge) to employees explaining the changes to the games division. “As I’ve shared previously, our goal for Amazon Games is to become one of the leading creators of high-quality gaming content that delights players for years to come. Part of this bold vision involves experimentation as we explore what gamers want most and we regularly review these experiments to ensure we’re creating the most impact … . 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.”