Amazon is retreating dramatically. Is this the beginning of the end of the video game market?

Amazon continues to clean up its video game development and publishing business. The company announced the end of the contract with the British studio Maverick Games, which is part of a broader strategy of limiting investments in this area and focusing only on selected projects. This decision was made within “strategic evolution”.

Maverick Games was established in 2023 on the initiative of the former creators of the Forza Horizon series. The studio is currently developing a narrative open-world racing game to be released on PC and consoles. The creators published their own statement in which they thanked for the cooperation so far and assured that the project was continuing as planned. At the same time, it was confirmed that talks with new publishing partners were ongoing.

What’s next for Jeff Bezos’ company? Amazon wants to focus on projects that make the best use of its scale of operations and technological resources. In practice, this means further development of the Luna platform and cooperation with Crystal Dynamics on the Tomb Raider series. Other gaming initiatives are being phased out or transferred to other hands.

It is worth recalling that Amazon previously closed its MMO teams responsible for New World and the game in the Lord of the Rings universe. This week, the King of Meat project was also completed, and Christoph Hartmann, who headed the games department, said goodbye to the company. As a result, Amazon’s portfolio in the gaming segment has been significantly slimmed down.

Layoffs and spending restrictions in gamedev affect almost all large companies. This is the result of both the bubble created during the COVID-19 pandemic and the replacement of people with artificial intelligence.