It’s no news that Amazon has struggled to make its big break in the video game industry, but a recent piece from Bloomberg takes a closer look at the years of effort and provides insight from past and current Amazon Studios developers on the missteps that led to his constant struggle.
Throughout the story, one factor seems to consistently lead to conflict in almost all elements of the game development expansion: a discrepancy between Amazon’s own steadfast management style and what works best for game developers.
The story shows how Amazon’s leadership often pulls the rug out of development teams in situations ranging from mis-prioritized project goals based on trending games from other competitors, sexist and racist workplace trends, and unfamiliarity with the game development process to a enumeration. little.
Many of the eye-catching stories from Bloomberg’s conversation with more than 30 Amazon Studios developers mention management problems with Mike Frazzini, a former Amazon director and studio VP Mike Frazzini, ranging from moments when Frazzini’s unfamiliarity with the production of video games projects hindered and reluctance to listen to feedback from developers hired as Amazon’s expert talent.
In an example from Amazon Studio developers, the leadership pushed back against criticism of its game New world, or Roanoke as it was codenamed during development, it can be considered racist for its use of colonialism and enemies borrowing Native American imagery. It took Amazon a tribal consultant to acknowledge those racist slogans.
Bloomberg points out that issues with workplace sexism is one of the few ways Amazon Studios compares to other major players in the gaming industry.
Women in the studio reported times when they were outright ignored in meetings in favor of comments from men of the company, or times when they received professional retaliation for raising concerns.
The full story on Bloomberg features more stories for Amazon Studios developers and hits on Amazon’s launch (and launch) Melting pot as well as the many issues that arose from the leadership decision that developers are creating and using Lumberyard, Amazon’s own game engine, exclusively for creating their games.