New Amazon CEO Andy Jassy Plans To ‘Try Again’ With Amazon Game Studios
Andy Jassy will be taking over for Jeff Bezos as the CEO of Amazon this summer. In an internal memo to Amazon staff, Jassy discussed a potential future for Amazon Game Studios, whose debut game, Crucible, was pulled from shelves and bizarrely cancelled after its release.
Jassy wrote to staff, “some businesses take off in the first year, and others take many years. Though we haven’t consistently succeeded yet in AGS, I believe we will if we hang in there. Being successful right away is obviously less stressful, but when it takes longer, it’s often sweeter. I believe this team will get there if we stay focused on what matters most.”
Amazon Game Studios head Mike Frazzini is expected to maintain his position even after a report about his behavior last month which quoted several employees who were “repelled by the corporate culture.” The story contends that the studio discriminated against its female employees. “[Women] shared stories of being ignored and undermined by male executives and say they were eventually driven out of the company,” said Bloomberg‘s Jason Schreier and Priya Anand. “One former employee says male colleagues completely ignored her comments in meetings. Another says a member of senior leadership impeded her career growth after she disagreed with him and that he created new management positions above her and filled them with men.”
Jassy’s announcement of AGS’s renewed focus comes just days after Google announced that their Stadia development teams would be dissolving and Stadia would become a 3rd party-only system.