Portal and Far Cry 2 designers just the latest big brains to join Amazon Game Studios

Earlier today, Amazon revealed its new microconsole and a first-party game exclusive to that device. Now, it has hired a pair of industry veterans to bolster its development team.

Portal developer Kim Swift and Far Cry 2 director Clint Hocking both joined Amazon Game Studios (and a plethora of Wizards of the Coast veterans) this month as senior designers, according to their LinkedIn profiles (as Kotaku first reported). They are working on unannounced projects that will likely end up on Amazon’s newly announced Fire TV set-top box. The Ouya-like Android-based microconsole starts shipping today for $99, and it already has an exclusive title in the sci-fi shooter Sev Zero.