San Francisco: Amazon Games studio head Mike Frazzini, who brought popular games like New World and Lost Ark to life, has stepped down.
While New World and Lost Ark games have been smashing hits, Amazon Games is yet to find its turf amid tough competition.
According to a Bloomberg report, the veteran Amazon executive Frazzini told his staff that he was leaving the studio to ‘focus on his family.’
“Mike was there at the beginning of Amazon Games, and his leadership and perseverance helped build the games business from the ground up,” an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement.
“Our recent successes with New World and Lost Ark are the result of the long-term, customer-focused vision for games he helped establish. We are very grateful for all his contributions, and wish Mike the very best,” the company spokesperson added.
Frazzini began his career in the books section of Amazon.com in 2004.
Amazon spends nearly $500 million a year to operate the gaming division.
Popular online game Lost Ark last month passed 1 million concurrent players, becoming the second most played game after PUBG in Steam history by concurrent counts.
Lost Ark is a second huge hit for Amazon Games, after New World set a concurrent record of 913,634 players late last year.
Lost Ark was originally released in 2019 in South Korea, and has millions of active players in South Korea, Russia, and Japan.
It is free-to-play and has also quickly risen to the top of Twitch, overtaking the popular ‘Just Chatting’ category.
–IANS