Amazon is seemingly expanding the gaming side of its business. The company has announced a new development studio based in Romania. Dubbed Amazon Games Bucharest, the studio is the first one opened by Amazon in Europe, and will be helmed by former Ubisoft Bucharest managing director Cristian Pana.
“I’m thrilled to join Amazon Games at a time when the team is actively building across an exciting roadmap,” Pana said in the studio’s announcement. “I’ve built and led outstanding teams in the past and I know this area of Europe is a hot spot for some of the very best talent in gaming.”
The studio is yet to announce any major titles, and is currently in the midst of expanding on its development team. Meanwhile, Amazon Games VP Christoph Hartmann has praised the region and Bucharest for its talent pool in game development.
“Amazon Games is focused on developing and publishing great games, and we have an ambitious long-term roadmap in front of us,” said Hartmann. “Expanding our internal development teams into Europe was a natural next step for us as we tackle our broad portfolio. Bucharest is known as one of the top emerging European cities for game development and we look forward to tapping into the rich talent pool.”
Amazon Games is currently still working on its own title, MMORPG New World, which got quite a bit of new content in the form of an expansion, Rise of the Angry Earth, which released back in October.
The company is also working on other projects, and back in 2022, it announced that it would be publishing the next Tomb Raider game that is currently being developed by Crystal Dynamics. No new details about the game have been announced so far.