Amazon has been developing its own games for years, but as we know they haven’t released one acceptable title yet. A new study from Bloomberg reveals why things are such a mess.
Mike Frazzini, vice president of the game division at Amazon, would, among other things, ignore advice from developers when developing new titles. That discloses a report from Bloomberg.
Frazzini was appointed vice president of the games department in 2014, bringing in developers of games like Portal, Everquest and Madden, among others. According to thirty current and former developers, he forced veterans to adopt unconventional methods, which made the development process difficult.
“Then, according to countless current and former employees at Frazzini’s game studios, he ignored much of their advice,” Bloomberg said. “He often told staff that every game had to be a ‘billion dollar franchise’ and understaffed projects, they say.”
Another problem would be related to building your own engine, instead of using existing options like Unreal Engine and Unity. According to some employees, the engine, Lumberyard, hindered the development of new projects.
Finally, some employees reported a toxic work culture. According to four women, it was ‘the worst form of sexism’ and women would have an unequal chance of promotion.
In recent years, Amazon has been working on several games, including Breakaway, Crucible, Nova, and New World. Of these, only the mmo New World is still under development and is scheduled to appear in 2021. Everquest creator John Smedley is also working on a new title.
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