Smedley has spent six years at the studio working on several projects, none of which have been released.
Amazon Games’ San Diego studio's John Smedley is stepping down from his role as the head of the studio and leaving the company.
As reported by Bloomberg, Smedley announced his departure in an email to staff saying that he's decided "it’s time for [him] to try [his] hand at something new."
John Smedley, a veteran in the gaming industry with 30 years of experience, has been leading Amazon Games’ San Diego for six years. During his tenure at the company, he worked on various projects, none of which have been released. Prior to Amazon, Smedley spent 13 years at Sony Online Entertainment for 13 years, contributing to games such as EverQuest, Star Wars Galaxies, Planetside, and H1Z1.
Andrew Sites, who also worked with Smedley at Sony, will take over as head of the San Diego studio. The team will continue to work on their unannounced project and Smedley will stay on until the transition is complete before leaving.
Amazon Game Studios was first launched in 2013 and despite the major investment, has had a mixed track record, canceling several games and releasing only one, Crucible, which was shut down after a month. Current and former employees have attributed Amazon's struggles in the video game industry to former boss Mike Frazzini, who resigned last year.
Most recently, Amazon Games announced that it has partnered with Crystal Dynamics to publish the studio's upcoming UE5-powered Tomb Raider game.
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