In August 2012, she was born Amazon Game Studios – a unit that was supposed to break into the game market thanks to endless money and influence Amazon. But after eight years, the units were on the account of only a few small mobile games and failures on PC and consoles.
The exhaust was disproportionate, because in Amazon Game Studios attracted the best industry experts and pumped a lot of money. About why it happened, says Bloomberg journalist Jason Schreyer (Jason Schreier). On terms of anonymity, he talked with more than 30 former and current employees Amazon.
First, recall the main track record Amazon Game Studios:
The Grand Tour Game – The first game of the company for home platforms. Received very low grades and attracted so few users that a year after the release it was removed from the sale.
Crucible – multi -user shooter about bright characters. Started May 20, 2020. Things were so bad that on June 30 the game was returned to limited beta testing, and on October 10 they announced the closure.
How it all began
It was originally planned that Amazon Game Studios will engage in mobile games for devices with the Amazon AppStore store. But in 2014, it was decided to retrain to the company to develop games for PC and consoles. The process is difficult: mobile games are enough for enough teams and several months for production, and games for home platforms require hundreds of hands and years of work.
IN Amazon Game Studios They attracted experienced developers: for example, a designer of a puzzle Portal Kim Swift (KIM SWIFT), leader Far Cry 2 Clint Hawking (CLINT HOCKING), producer Madden with 20 years of experience Richard Hitalleman (Richard Hilleman), as well as the author Everquest and pioneer online games John Smedley (John smedley). Today in Amazon From this four only remained SMEDLI.
Among those who launched Amazon Game Studios, – Mike Fratszini (Mike Frazzini). By 2012, he had no experience in developing video games. Fratszini He earned the trust of the head Amazon Jeff Bezos (Jeff Bezos) For effective control of the section with books on the store’s website. The logic was approximately this: if a person manages one business well, he can well manage any business.
Bezos insisted on Amazon Game Studios created the most ambitious games in the world – those that will attract gamers in the Ecosystem of Amazon Prime subscriptions and show other developers the possibility of cloud technologies of the company. An approximate example of such a game is to collect 10,000 users in one match.
IN Amazon Game Studios did at least two projects that were supposed to comply with this directive. They were called "Games Bezos".
Fratszini demanded from employees https://richyfishcasino.co.uk/ to every game Amazon turned out to be a billion dollars franchise. At the same time, he poorly understood that this was required. For example, the projects lacked working hands, but instead of taking ready -made developed engines, Fratszini insisted on the production of his own technological platform – Amazon Lumberyard based on Cryengine.
About working conditions
Amazon spends about $ 500 million a year on a video game unit. This does not include Twitch and Amazon Luna teams – cloud game service.
At first, developers Amazon Game Studios They thought they were in paradise: many were paid twice as much as the average market in the same region, and stake packages were added on top Amazon, who continued to grow in price. The teams set the deadlines, but they were flexible, so the team did not go into endless processing.
The main engine of progress in the company is dry data. However, in the production of video games it is customary to “look for fun” – to change and polish small details of the game so that it becomes more interesting. Therefore, it is critical that the authorities have experience in creating a video game, the interlocutors say Schreyer. U Fratszini there was no this experience, but he measured people according to 14 principles developed in Amazon. Often these principles contradicted the creative nature of the production of video games.
Women complained that in Amazon The male kingdom flourishes when men give much more chances to prove themselves. Some developers even say that in Amazon faced with the worst manifestations of sexism in the industry.
Fratszini Brave the principle of “hire and develop the best”, but in fact this principle worked a little wrong, the interlocutors say Schreyer. Amazon really hired the best, but the company expected these people to be rebuilt as it is customary to work in Amazon.
In game studios Amazon decided to establish their principles, but here it turned out not everything smoothly. The games created should have accommodated as many players as possible, but they were obliged to remain as attractive for loners. Games demanded huge financial successes comparable to numbers Call of Duty, but they also had to be innovative and not like anything. Experienced developers believed that with such requests the game can not be released.
Amazon did not offer any incentives to move the game to release. If in other game studios it is customary to encourage employees when their project reaches certain assessments and/or commercial results, then Amazon rewarded only during the time spent in the company. Some employees began to cling to the workplace and please the authorities even when they did not agree. Moreover, one of the principles Amazon I read: "Have pride, know how to disagree".
Inexperienced boss
Inexperience Fratszini In video games, it was very noticeable: for example, once he could not understand why the video recording of a polished concept and live gameplay from the working version of the game were different.
At meetings Fratszini often began to demand that Amazon Game Studios chased behind the next fresh trend, about which the boss read on Venturebeat. So appeared:
Nova – answer League of Legends. Frozen in 2017.Intensity – answer Fortnite. Canceled in 2019.Crucible – answer Overwatch. I survived to the release, but died ingloriously.
Not all initiatives Fratszini on the game front were failure. For example, he helped with absorption Twitch for 970 million US dollars. The step is successful, since Microsoft, Google And Facebook* it was not possible to create an intelligent competitor for Twitch.
In 2017 Fratszini I wanted to turn Twitch into a digital store to Amazon did not pay the commission 30 % on Steam. Team Twitch I did not like this idea, because Amazon There were no games that would attract customers. Team Game Studios I didn’t like this idea, because it would have cut off the audience a lot. As an argument, they said: "Not to release the game on Steam is the same as not releasing the book on Amazon".
Another project Fratszini – Amazon Lumberyard engine. In 2014 Amazon Licensed Cryengine u Crytek and handed it to her engineers. Lumberyard was posted in public access in 2016. They could be used for free, but the engine is greatly connected with Amazon Web Services – this way Amazon I wanted to plant third -party developers on my services.
Fratszini insisted that the teams Game Studios They built games only on lumberyard – in this case Amazon I would not pay deductions for Unity or Unreal Engine. But the engine turned out to be clumsy: some functions needed confusing instructions, and the speed of the system was painfully slow. While Lumberyard digested another piece of art or compiled the code, the developers played in Halo or watched a movie on Prime Video. The thoughts were walking on the offices that Lumberyard is killing the company.
An example of how the managing top ignored the advice of employees – MMO New World. In it, users were assigned the role of colonialists in the fictional version of America of the XVII century. Colonialists fought with enemies who look like Indians. Employees Amazon indicated that this could be perceived as racism, but assistants Fratszini They waved away from fears.
In the end Amazon hired an expert from a native peoples of the United States. He confirmed that the topic New World It looks insulting, so the game was sent for revision to remove the connection with the Indians from there.
Results at the moment
Employees often accuse Fratszini In the problems of the unit. After death Crucible On the board in the office in Seattle, someone left the inscription: "Frace is cancer". The inscription surrounded a bunch of multi -colored marks +1.
Even after a series of failures Amazon Game Studios Some employees believe that New World Good potential. The game received positive reviews from streamers and meets the criteria of ambitiousness that supports Bezos.
Apparently the top Amazon recognizes his failures in Game Studios. In the summer of 2018 Fratszini hired Christophe Hartmann (Christoph Hartmann) – a person who worked for about 20 years in Take-Two and helped to produce blockbusters like Borderlands, BIOSHOCK And Mafia. Hartmann He became vice president Amazon Game Studios. In addition, in 2018 in Amazon I had to return Jason Kilar (Jason Kilar) – former "Amazon" and president of the video service Hulu. It was assumed that Kilar will become a boss Fratszini, but for unknown reasons Kilar never started working in Amazon.
At Hartmann V Game Studios Nevertheless, it became better: the teams allowed the prototypes on Unreal Engine, and Amazon I undertook to publish games created together with third -party partners. Among them there will be a certain game from Korean Smilegate (Launch is expected in 2021) and MMO for the "Lord of the Rings".
* The activities of the parent organization META are recognized as extremist and prohibited in the Russian Federation
