John Smedley is leaving Amazon’s video game division to try something new.
As per a report from Bloomberg, Amazon Games’ San Diego studio head John Smedley will be stepping down from his position to try his hand at something new, according to an email to staff obtained by the media outlet. John Smedley has worked on several projects over six years, none of which have seen the light of day.
John Smedley has been running one of Amazon Game’s three development studios, located in San Diego, for six years with a wide executive and developer team behind him. However, he is now leaving Amazon’s video game division after the company failed to ship and release big titles over the years. The departure of John Smedley coincides with a widespread layoff at Amazon, which has suffered from numerous reports of mismanagement over the last decade. It is safe to say that Amazon’s game venture has not gone to plan, despite the studio working on multiple titles.
“After a lot of thought, I’ve decided it’s time for me to try my hand at something new,” John Smedley said in an email to staff obtained by Bloomberg. ” John is a game industry legend, and we’re grateful for his contributions to Amazon Games over the past six years,” an Amazon spokesperson added. His team “remains focused on bringing their unannounced project to life. John is committed to staying on until the team is fully transitioned before he moves on to pursue something new.”
Bloomberg also reported that Andy Sites will step in as studio head while John Smedley will help with the transition during this period. Before joining Amazon’s video game division back in 2017, John Smedley spent most of his career as the studio head for Daybreak Game Company (formerly Sony Online Entertainment), during which he worked on games like Star Wars Galaxies and Everquest. However, his tenure at Amazon was not as successful as it was at Sony, considering the studio has struggled to release big titles after over half a decade.
Andy Sites, who will replace John in San Diego, first joined Amazon Game Studios in 2021. The studio has currently several titles in development, including an upcoming Tomb Raider game and Blue Protocol, the latter of which is due to release sometime this year.
