Amazon is one of the most wide-spanning companies in the world, with its hands in a variety of industries including retail, TV, music, and video games. While also owning Twitch, Amazon has a section of the company dedicated to developing games called Amazon Game Studios. However, it looks like things aren’t going great at Amazon in that department, as it lost another gaming executive today.
According to a report from Bloomberg, John Smedley announced today that he would be stepping down from his studio head position at the Amazon Games’ San Diego office. Smedley has worked in the gaming industry for three decades, with six years of that being as the head of the San Diego studio. During his tenure, there were no games released from that studio.
Smedley sent an email to staff announcing his decision, saying in part that “[a]fter a lot of thought, I’ve decided it’s time for me to try my hand at something new.” Andy Sites is expected to take over his position as studio head while Smedley helps with the transition.
There are new games reportedly in development from Amazon, including an upcoming Tomb Raider game and Blue Protocol, the latter of which is expected to release sometime this year. There are also a couple of unannounced games from different original IPs, with more information likely coming in the future. However, it’s unclear if the San Diego branch had or will have any input on these games.
While the reason for his stepping aside is unclear, it could be because the developer has been unable to meet certain release or development expectations under Smedley’s leadership.
Smedley is only the latest executive to step away from Amazon Games, with boss Mike Frazzini resigning from the developer last year. Amazon Games Studio has been around for a good decade now, and its inability to provide more games, especially popular games, is being questioned.
Update Jan. 11, 9.36 pm CT: Fixed phrasing that inaccurately suggested the head of Amazon Games had resigned. We apologize for this mistake.
