The Grand Tour Game was the first console release from Amazon Game Studios and was removed from stores in a year. Crucible was the studio’s next game released, and not only did it return to the closed beta after its official release, it also ended in November 2020.
Two other projects, known as Intensity and Nova, never saw the light of day after the teams tried and failed to create games inspired by Fortnite and League of Legends, respectively.All of these canceled and unsuccessful projects at Amazon Game Studios did so, despite Amazon spending nearly $ 500 million a year operating the games division. It is also important to note that the value does not include Twitch or Amazon Luna – the latter is under different management.
Frazzini is a “perpetual Amazon” who started his career in the book section of Amazon.com, where he “made Jeff Bezos a manager there”. He began his role as head of the gaming division by bringing in some of the best game development talent in the world, including Kim Swift from Portal, Clint Hawking from Far Cry 2, Richard Hilleman from Madden and John Smedley from Everquest. Today, only Smedley remains.
According to several current employees and former employees of Frazzini’s game studios, he has continually ignored much of the advice given by these seasoned developers and, although he often tells the team that every Amazon game should be a “billion-dollar franchise. dollars, “he would then drop the projects.
In addition, instead of using industry-leading game engines such as Unreal Engine or Unity, the studio opted to license Crytek’s technology to create a homemade engine known as Lumberyard.Although Lumberyard’s goal was to integrate with Amazon Web Services and could be a cheaper alternative than paying for other engines, it ended up being known as a “bogeyman in the office”. Many said it was “painfully slow” and developers were playing Halo or watching Amazon Prime Video while waiting for Lumberyard to process the art or compile the code. A former employee even said, “Lumberyard is killing this company”.
Another major problem with working at Amazon Game Studios is related to the “brother culture” that was cultivated there, in which women often did not have the same opportunities as men. In addition, “four game developers said their worst experiences of sexism in the industry were on Amazon.”
There are stories that they were ignored and harmed by male executives, in some cases being expelled from the company. One source said that not only did one man on the senior leadership team hinder her career growth after she disagreed with him, she also created new management positions above her and hired men to take on those positions.
The problems with Amazon’s games also extend to the way they encourage their employees. While most studios pay bonuses based on a game’s critical and commercial response, Amazon’s stock plan rewards only employees for their time at the company. This made some employees choose to “prioritize job preservation over anything else, say three former employees”.
The next project for Amazon Game Studio is the MMO New World. Originally planned for a launch in 2020, it was postponed to the spring of 2021 to improve the quality of the game. The Bloomberg report explains that the project was originally a survival game where players would take on the role of settlers in a fictionalized version of 17th century America.
The problem, however, was that the enemies that the players would originally face “looked a lot like the Indians”. When the developers pointed out to Frazzini’s deputy, Patrick Gilmore, that the scenario and the villains could be considered racist, he “expressed disbelief”.
Amazon eventually hired a tribal consultant who found the portrait offensive, and the images of American Indians were removed.
Our latest preview from the New World high-level PvE zone shows a game that may not be for everyone, but that shows promise and a huge improvement, both in PvE content and overall polish, over the previous build.
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Adam Bankhurst is an IGN news writer. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.