I really like how things went wrong on a video game, and Amazon Game Studios has gone wrong on a few occasions now. The latest report on Breakaway and Crucible manufacturers’ (and cancellations) malfunctions has passed on Bloomberg, reflecting much of what was previously reported, including that the board members do not understand games, and the games designed to corporate achieve goals without paying much attention to what people want to play.
If you haven’t paid attention to it yet, Amazon Games Studios created several brilliant jobs in 2014, including developers like Kim Swift and Clint Hocking, but then got lost in the development hell for a few years. When the studio finally started announcing and releasing games, the games were met with little enthusiasm and were canceled.
The broad outlines of this report are similar to what Wired wrote last year. Amazon wants to make games as a way to drive people to Amazon Prime and their other services, but the experienced game developers within the company are often ignored in favor of slogan managers who have been successful in other parts of Amazon’s business, such as book publishing. .
The Bloomberg report focuses largely on Mike Frazzini, the CEO who helped launch Amazon Game Studios. He allegedly did not understand games. For example:
Frazzini’s lack of experience in video games showed during project reviews, a standard operating ritual when the boss plays early prototypes and provides feedback. His comments were from the focus group variety, a former Amazon developer recalls: “Why is it this color?” and “Like fun. When will it be ready? On another occasion, says another developer, the team collapsed when Frazzini struggled to distinguish between hyper-polished concept material and live play, a sign that he did not understand the technology.
The article also claims that he will demand from developers that they ‘chase a new trend’ that he has just read about, and that this leads to the company’s efforts to repeat other, already successful games. Several examples are given, including a game inspired by League Of Legends called Nova that was canceled in 2017, and a game called Intensity inspired by Fortnite and canceled in 2019.
It turns out that this was also the starting point for Crucible, Amazon’s hero shooter inspired by Overwatch. Crucible was launched in May 2020, from the June release for reuse, and was then canceled live in October.
There are some positive aspects among the stories that staff tell. For example, they are much higher than the market rate paid and rewarded with valuable Amazon shares, and staff are rarely asked to work overtime. Unfortunately, there are also more well-known game development strips:
The former employees said that the studios had cultivated a ‘bridge culture’ in which women often did not get the same opportunities as men. Four female game developers say Amazon has had their worst experiences of sexism in the industry. They told stories that they were ignored and undermined by male managers and say that they were eventually expelled from the company. According to a former employee, male colleagues completely ignored her comments at meetings. Another says a member of senior leadership is hampering her career growth after she disagreed with him and that he created new management positions above her and filled them with men.
You can read the full story at Bloomberg, assuming you have not yet reached your limit for free articles for the month.