Amazon Games forced team to pivot Project Trident to AI, then laid them off anyway

Amazon pressured one of its teams to develop an AI game, they scrambled to make it work - then got laid off anyway

In October 2025, developers at Amazon Game Studios found out they had lost their jobs. They were far from alone; since the end of the Covid-19 pandemic, an unrelenting assault of layoffs has carved up many studios across the world. The reasons for that remain contested, from a sudden correction after the explosive growth of the pandemic, to ever-greater competition for eyeballs from the attention economy, or the simple lack of 'growth narrative', leading to crucial investors taking their money elsewhere. Regardless, at Amazon Game Studios the story was the same as it was at so many others: rooms of creatives, junior and senior, unceremoniously brought into meetings and locked out from company accounts. The mournful leitmotif of the times. Many teams within the Amazon Games Studios umbrella were affected. New World, for instance, Amazon Games Studios' long lasting MMORPG, was dealt a fatal blow, its team's deconstruction coinciding with an end-of-life announcement for the project following its tenth season and last major update, Nighthaven. These we know about, but they were far from the only casualties. Another game was cancelled - and much of its team let go - despite showing promise internally, and despite its adherence to an increasingly popular games industry refrain: that game developers ought to be making games involving generative AI. Internally, this game was referred to as Project Trident. According to sources spread across multiple Amazon Game Studios teams, who spoke to Eurogamer under condition of anonymity to protect their careers, Eurogamer can reveal an AI mandate was introduced to the developer as part of a company-wide push to use the technology - but it was not enough to save them from closure. It's worth outlining how exactly Amazon Game Studios operated. Within the Amazon Game Studios umbrella, led at the time by vice president Christoph Hartmann, several core teams of developers were each working on major MMO projects such as New World, Lost Ark, and Throne and Liberty. Other teams worked across Amazon Luna titles such as Masters of the Universe: Legends Unite, or Courtroom Chaos starring Snoop Dogg, while the publishing arm still collaborated with certain projects, such as the recently announced Crystal Dynamics Lara Croft games (Crystal Dynamics has assured these projects remain on track, despite layoffs). Within all that, smaller teams were pitching and working on new projects, including Project Trident. But when Amazon Game Studios announced layoffs last year, it did so alongside a drastic pivot away from big-budget internal development. A "significant amount" of internal triple-A development would halt as part of this, reportedly wrote Steven Bloom in an internal memo at the time. This resulted in the San Diego-based Project Trident team, operating at the time under studio head Andy Sites, leaving alongside their peers across the company from the teams on New World, Lost Ark, and more. As for the Lord of the Rings MMO, that team "had like three people on it for the longest time," according to one source, "before they started moving New World devs to Lord of the Rings - and then everyone got laid off." After much speculation, this source confirmed to Eurogamer that Amazon's The Lord of the Rings MMO has also been cancelled, though Amazon itself claims it is in the process of making something with the IP. By the time it was cancelled, Project Trident was a third-person action game in a comedy-focused nordic setting, where a fictional parody company called Valhalla Ventures hires the protagonist as part of a wider adventure. It's a fun idea, but there's one very specific twist: as is clear from a substantial amount of gameplay footage reviewed by Eurogamer, its key quirk was its use of generative AI, enabling communication between the player and NPCs. While this included lighthearted chatter between the player and various characters outside of missions, it was also used within the missions as a key tool for combat and puzzle-solving. During fights present in the gameplay footage, for instance, the player could command a character named Thor to perform a special attack by either saying its name out loud, or typing its name into a text box. The LLM (Large Language Model) would recognise this command, and Thor would perform the move in response. The player would be confronted with environmental puzzles, similar to what you may see in a typical triple-A action adventure. Your path is at one point blocked, and must be bypassed by commanding Thor (either through verbal or textual commands) to take certain actions, which the LLM-powered NPC can then react to. Doing so successfully then clears your path and allows you to continue forward. At some points, you are given an opportunity to convince enemies to join Valhalla Ventures, and must convince them with your own custom dialogue options. During the gameplay slice Eurogamer viewed, your NPC companion Thor captures enemies, allowing for one of these attempts to recruit them to the company. Thor could describe the best way to approach the argument - noting they seem to have an ego that you could play up to, for instance - at which point the player must say or write to the captured enemy in an attempt to win them over. This enemy, whose personality is again powered by an LLM, will either agree to join you or reject your arguments, depending on what you say to them. "We were playing outside of the play tests because it was really fun. We knew what we wanted to make and how to do it, we just needed time to make it. The game's art, music, story, and core gameplay were still hand-made by developers, with the LLM only powering player-to-NPC interaction. Generative AI was also used to improve the appearance and quality of animations, such as dynamically generated lip-synching. One of the benefits of this comedic approach to the narrative, according to this source, is that it helped address generative AI hallucinations without totally breaking a player's immersion. Project Trident did not start off like this, however. Prior to 2024, it was a cooperative four-player action game, still within this Nordic setting (albeit with a more serious tone), where players fought giant, looming monsters a la Shadow of the Colossus. In another brief gameplay reel reviewed by Eurogamer, a player party can be seen battling through an arena of smaller enemies, using grappling hooks to scale ledges and pull themselves towards foes. Then, they head to a vast, open space where a mountain jotun proceeds to throw burning boulders at the players while it towers over anything else in the environment. During this fight, players can climb up the jotun's legs to take down weak points, having to hold on tight when it attempts to shake them off. They can also use their grappling hook to navigate structures around the jotun, as well as a flying mount to make a fast ascent to its head and shoulders. This version of the game was received positively internally, according to a source familiar with its development. "Everybody was excited by it," they told Eurogamer. "We were playing outside of the play tests because it was really fun. We knew what we wanted to make and how to do it, we just needed time to make it. We knew it was special whenever outside teammates saw it in the ugly development and debug visuals were saying 'This looks fun, can I play it?'" However, the direction of Project Trident would shift drastically. Multiple sources have told Eurogamer that, around mid-2024, an "AI mandate" was introduced at Amazon Game Studios. Amazon, like many tech companies worldwide, pushed to include generative AI across its workforce, and Amazon Game Studios was no different. "It was 18 months from getting told 'Yes you can make this' to 'It's in stores now'." The extent to which generative AI was actually used by different projects differed from one to the next. For New World, for instance, conversations about how to use the technology were common, though critically no generative AI was used to create assets for the game, according to a former developer on the MMO and one source familiar with AI development at Amazon Game Studios. According to two sources, these talks about implementing generative AI ranged from "loose chatter" in meetings, to a "broad initiative" meant to be used in "as many aspects as possible" depending on the team. One source tells Eurogamer there was "loose chatter about Amazon finding ways to use it. Or some things we were already using it for, without specifically talking about what they were trying to use it for." That dovetailed with "talk about the inevitable use of it, and how it would change the way games would be made." This same source explained that conversations around generative AI weren't "deep dives," but instead "more quick answers that were rather vague just to touch on it and move on." Rather than dedicated sessions focused on the technology, they claim, often it was brought up during meetings by developers worried about how it might alter their jobs. A few weeks before the October news of widespread layoffs, the New World team had been told internally of the game's fate. According to a source familiar with the New World team, that final period at the company - "after the announcement of Amazon pulling the plug" - saw discussion around AI use briefly increase. For other Amazon games, meanwhile, generative AI's use was more upfront. Courtroom Chaos starring Snoop Dogg, for instance, is a generative AI powered game, where players can engage in LLM-based debates with the rapper over generated legal cases. For Project Trident, this mandate came at an inopportune time: soon before the Shadow of the Colossus-inspired version of the game was to be pitched. This version of the game was playable, albeit unfinished, with this internal pitch acting as the make-or-break moment where future development on this version of the game would be allowed to continue. "A few days before our pitch, a mandate [was set] for Amazon to innovate with LLM tech in all divisions," a source familiar with Project Trident's development told Eurogamer. "Our team was the first to get the mandate." To this source, they felt it was either pivot to fold in a generative AI element, or "more than likely shut down." That, or go back to the drawing board, "come up with a whole new game idea to pitch and probably get rejected again." Amazon Game Studios San Diego was given the news "from the top down", in what one source described as a "don't shoot the messenger" situation. According to this same source, the majority of staff were "uneasy, unhappy, and concerned" with the news. Immediately after the AI Mandate was introduced, the Project Trident team were told to have their next project ready in less than two years of development time. This restriction resulted in a pivot away from the Shadow of the Colossus-inspired game, towards a "Helldivers-style" game with AI-powered characters you could speak to. "It was 18 months from getting told 'Yes you can make this' to 'It's in stores now'," one source told Eurogamer. "So we started off with Helldivers-style because the team's mentality was [that it was] something we could make quickly and at the quality that we want to make it at." They continued: "It had roguelite gameplay of drop in, drop out, talk with AI for missions and some story stuff. Rinse, repeat. We had some fun with it, but almost everyone kept wishing we didn't have to do this and were working on the Colossus version instead." Eventually, according to this source, Project Trident changed once again when it was clear the original 18-month development schedule - met with shock by the team when first announced - wasn't feasible. A little over halfway through development, after multiple rejected requests for extensions from the Project Trident team, that tight deadline was extended indefinitely, at which point the studio switched ideas again, away from the Helldivers-like game to a new, single-player, linear story instead. Fast forward to late last year, just prior to the widespread layoffs, and the Project Trident team were working on a reveal to showcase the game after years of work. This "E3-style" demo was the final task the team were working on prior to their sudden departure, a milestone deliverable to be shown to Amazon's publishing division for feedback, before the public reveal in the first half of 2026. When the layoffs finally came, some were warned ahead of time. Others were "blindsided" by the news. The Project Trident team, who tried to produce a high-quality game using AI tools, as requested by their bosses at Amazon Game Studios, nonetheless found themselves alongside their peers looking for a job, just as those who didn't. These layoffs were part of an Amazon-wide cut to staff, which led to 14,000 employees losing their jobs. This, according to an internal memo released at the time penned by Amazon's senior vice president Beth Galetti, was a continuation of "work to get even stronger by further reducing bureaucracy, removing layers, and shifting resources to ensure we're investing in our biggest bets and what matters most to our customers' current and future needs." Amazon Game Studios received its own internal memo, from Amazon's vice president of audio, Twitch, and games, Steven Bloom, in which he wrote: "While we're proud of our successes in first-party AAA game development and publishing, we have made the difficult decision to halt a significant amount of our first-party AAA game development work - specifically around MMOs - within Amazon Game Studios, including making significant role reductions in our studios in Irvine and San Diego, as well as our central publishing team." "I think we did discover the best ways and the worst ways that [generative AI implementation] can happen." As a hybrid studio, both remote and in-person workers were brought into meetings and given the bad news. Most people had been "worried about their jobs since [the New World] announcement," one source said, referring to the brief period where the New World team knew the game was going offline, but the extent of the later layoffs hadn't become clear. "But there were some other internal projects that were going on that we were hoping people would be rolled onto, and that layoffs might be minimized." Around October 2025, shortly before the layoff news, "people were really starting to feel what was coming, but we thought it would be contained to just the New World team." Ultimately for these developers, regardless of their personal feelings on the technology, their attempts to create an authentically fun game using generative AI proved futile. One source said they first had initially mixed feelings around working with generative AI, but saw it as an opportunity to discover a "sensible" and "ethical" way to do so. However, they felt this approach was ignored in favour of something "cheap and disposable", made without "listening to the experts". "I think we did discover the best ways and the worst ways that [generative AI implementation] can happen," this source said, only for that to come to nothing. In their words, Amazon "laid off everyone that was an expert in the best and worst ways to implement AI in regards to game development." What's clear from Project Trident's story is that developing games with generative AI, even setting aside any ethical questions, is much like all game development; it requires time, expertise, support, and clear, achievable goals to manifest into something meaningful. At the request of those above them, the team behind Project Trident tried to bridge the gap between the controversial technology and tried-and-true game design, to create something many claim they want: an embrace of the future. But if there's something to take away from their efforts, it's that no manner of technology will offer an easy fix for game development's most fundamental problems. Eurogamer contacted Amazon for comment on the topics raised in this piece, and received the following response attributed to Jeff Gattis, head of gaming at Amazon: "AI was not the reason behind role reductions in Games. Those changes were the result of a strategic shift in our business and a refocus on the areas where Amazon can deliver the most value to players. Great games are made by talented people and we think AI should expand what's possible. We remain focused on using these technologies thoughtfully and responsibly, always guided by the creativity and judgment of our teams. We're proud of what our teams are creating, and we look forward to sharing more of what they've been building soon." As for the Lord of the Rings MMO, our source shared some extra detail alongside their claims that it has been definitively cancelled, though Amazon, via, Gattis, offered the following statement: "Our creative team continues to explore a compelling new game experience that does justice to Tolkien's world; we are working closely with Middle-earth and remain excited about the IP."

Amazon reportedly had a studio pivot away from a game 'everyone was excited by' to make something with more AI stuffed in it, then laid them all off anyway

There are a lot of ways to get laid off in the games industry -- make a good game, make a bad game, start making a game that isn't exciting. Start making a game that your boss actively loves and get told to jog on, anyway. Your boss wears a hat. You know, normal and healthy stuff. One more grim red X -- the kind you put on doors during a plague -- painted on the games industry bingo card is a recent report from Eurogamer, who spoke to multiple sources at Amazon Games about the ill-fated Project Trident. Said sources asked to remain anonymous, but the picture they paint is deeply grim. Initially, the report states, Project Trident was a Shadow of the Colossus-style action game where players would have to topple Jotuns, navigating their huge forms with flying mounts and a grappling hook. It sounds like good fun, and sources tell the site that "everybody was excited by it" internally. Then disaster struck. Those same sources told the website that, mid-2024, Amazon allegedly instituted an "AI mandate". For Project Trident, this mandate had come right before their original Colossus-style game was to be pitched -- with one source claiming that there was a hefty implied demand (as they were the first to be told) to come up with something that hamfists AI into a videogame, or get "more than likely shut down". It gets worse. Eurogamer reports they were given two years to make it (basically nothing in videogame development time), resulting in a pivot to an entirely different concept that'd be actually manageable. This led to a Helldivers-esque game with "roguelite gameplay of drop in, drop out, talk with AI for missions and some story stuff. Rinse, repeat. "We had some fun with it, but almost everyone kept wishing we didn't have to do this and were working on the Colossus version instead." Halfway through development, the deadline was lifted, and the team shuffled along to a third idea -- a singleplayer game where you could talk to LLMs to fire off special moves or convince prisoners to join your cause. This thing was, according to Eurogamer's sources, close to being demonstratable, ready to show off a demo in the first half of 2026. You're reading this article because Amazon laid off 14,000 people late 2025. So, to summarise -- Amazon reportedly had a team working on a game, cajoled them into making something different to appease the "more AI" graft, that team got close to making something it could show off, and then everybody involved was laid off. I wish I could say I was shocked, but I'm just exhausted. "I think we did discover the best ways and the worst ways that [generative AI implementation] can happen," and yet, "[Amazon] laid off everyone that was an expert in the best and worst ways to implement AI in regards to game development." Obviously, the specifics are more complex -- but I can't shake this eerie feeling that Amazon put this poor dev team through the wringer, only to toss out the work they'd put in at the wringer factory. Like a lot of these speculative AI projects, nobody can be said to've learnt anything and a whole lot of money was, apparently, wasted. In a comment supplied to Eurogamer, Amazon gaming head Jeff Gattis writes: "AI was not the reason behind role reductions in Games. Those changes were the result of a strategic shift in our business and a refocus on the areas where Amazon can deliver the most value to players. "Great games are made by talented people and we think AI should expand what's possible. We remain focused on using these technologies thoughtfully and responsibly, always guided by the creativity and judgment of our teams. We're proud of what our teams are creating, and we look forward to sharing more of what they've been building soon." If these sources are to be believed, I don't know if Amazon can be said to've been "guided by the creativity and judgement of our teams". The picture painted looks like quite the opposite, but hey -- I'm not a top executive at Amazon, so I don't have the industry wondercraft and mental prowess to think I could compete with Steam.

Amazon Games Was Reportedly A Bigger Mess Than We Knew

It's tough being a game developer, especially at Amazon Games Studios. A new report from Eurogamer outlines chaos, confusion, and dysfunction on one of the tech giant's game development teams as it pivoted to a project based on generative AI game in a desperate attempt to save their jobs, only for Amazon to apparently can them anyway when it didn't work out. Last October, Amazon laid off roughly 14,000 employees, which included significant reductions in its gaming business. A known casualty of the layoffs was New World: Aeternum, which is set to shut down in January 2027 despite being one of Amazon Games' few success stories. However, there was another game unceremoniously canceled despite the valiant efforts of its developers. According to Eurogamer, it was a Viking-inspired, third-person action comedy called Project Trident. Something unique about it was that it incorporated generative AI technology aimed at making the world and its NPCs more responsive. But according to sources who worked on the game, Project Trident used to be very different. They told Eurogamer it was originally a more serious Shadow of the Colossus-style adventure. It only shifted after the developers felt pressured by a corporate mandate to use AI in their game or face cuts. Adapting to the new rules, the developers on Project Trident changed course from their original Shadow of the Colossus vision to creating what they described as a "Helldivers-style" game. Still, even that would not be its final form. As a part of the corporate mandate to include genAI, Eurogamer also reported that the Project Trident devs were given only 18 months to have their game ready to ship. Unable to meet that deadline, the developers managed to secure extra time, at which point Project Trident would transform again, this time into a single-player game. After years of developmental fits and starts, the team was working on finalizing a demo before Amazon pulled the plug with the October layoffs. In a memo explaining the layoffs' impact on the company's gaming division at the time, Steve Boom, head of Amazon Games, Twitch, and audio, wrote, "We have made the difficult decision to halt a significant amount of our first-party AAA game development work â€" specifically around MMOs â€" within Amazon Game Studios." With New World already confirmed as shutting down, the statement also made it seem likely that Amazon's ambitious MMO project based on Lord of the Rings did not appear long for this world either, and it now appears it was indeed canceled along with the unannounced Project Trident. But Amazon is apparently still working on another Lord of the Rings game. In a statement to Eurogamer, Jeff Grattis, head of Amazon Games, wrote, "Our creative team continues to explore a compelling new game experience that does justice to Tolkien's world; we are working closely with Middle-earth and remain excited about the IP." Whether Amazon will let its devs complete the game, though, remains to be seen.