More layoffs at Amazon: Over 100 employees let go

Amazon has laid off thousands of its employees in the past year and continues to do so. Recent reports show that the company has cut over 100 employees working in the gaming divisions.

Amazon Games VP Christoph Hartmann wrote a memo to staff on Tuesday, giving more information about the planned layoffs. Hartmann said the decision was made to restructure and streamline the company's operations.

"After evaluating our current projects against our long-term goals, the Games leadership team made the difficult decision to eliminate just over 100 roles across Prime Gaming, Game Growth, and in our San Diego studio while also reassigning some employees to other projects that match our strategic focus," Hartmann wrote.

Part of 9,000 layoffs announced earlier

The layoffs are a part of 9,000 job cuts announced a couple of months ago. Amazon started cutting the workforce from its gaming divisions. It also parted ways with 400 employees working for Twitch, and now more than 100 are left in limbo in Amazon's own gaming division.

Amazon's gaming division is working on new projects since 2013, but the team has failed to meet expectations. They developed and published New World, which was definitely a hit but got criticized at the launch due to bugs and other issues. The company has also published Lost Ark, a game that Smilegate and Tailpod Studio developed.

"Going forward, we will continue to invest in our internal development efforts, and our teams will continue to grow as our projects progress,"  Hartmann added.

Employees affected by this decision were given the information in live meetings scheduled for Tuesday morning with human resources. The company also added that it would give additional benefits to those who lost their jobs, including severance pay, health insurance benefits, outplacement services, and paid time to conduct their job search.

The tech giant also lost two key employees, Mike Frazzini, who helped launch Amazon Games, and Jhon Smedley, the head of Amazon Games' San Diego studio. Frazzini left the company last March, and Smedley stepped down in January.

Amazon is one of the biggest technology companies in the world. On the other hand, it is also one of the companies that laid off thousands of employees quickly. It says that these changes are mandatory to streamline its operations and have a stable future despite global economic difficulties.

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