Amazon Cancels AI-Powered Game Project Trident Amid Broader Studio Restructuring

Summary

Amazon Game Studios cancelled Project Trident, an AI-driven game that was in active development, as part of a sweeping restructuring that eliminated multiple teams and projects in October 2025. Project Trident was a third-person action game set in a comedic Nordic setting where generative AI powered NPC communication and player interactions. The project showed internal promise and was specifically aligned with Amazon's company-wide push to integrate generative AI into new products, yet this mandate was insufficient to save it from closure.

The cancellation was one of many casualties from Amazon's pivot away from big-budget internal game development. Leadership, including Steven Boom in internal communications, announced that a "significant amount" of triple-A development would halt. This affected multiple major projects including New World, Lost Ark, and the Lord of the Rings MMO—which Amazon has since confirmed was also cancelled, despite earlier claims about ongoing development. The San Diego-based Project Trident team, led by studio head Andy Sites, was among dozens laid off across Amazon Game Studios under VP Christoph Hartmann's oversight.

The cancellations reflect a broader contraction in the gaming industry since the post-pandemic hiring boom. However, Project Trident's fate is particularly notable because it exemplified the industry's emerging trend of AI integration in games—a refrain many developers have adopted as a potential growth narrative. Amazon's decision to cancel it anyway signals that even alignment with the company's AI priorities cannot offset its strategic shift toward external partnerships and away from internal triple-A production.

• October 2025 layoffs across Amazon Game Studios affected teams on core MMO franchises and newer projects alike
• The cancellation reflects broader gaming industry consolidation and layoffs that have persisted since the end of the pandemic boom