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Relentless_Studios

Relentless Studios is an American headquartered in , operating as a division of . Formerly known as Amazon Game Studios Seattle, the studio was established in 2016 to focus on multiplayer and online titles, with key hires including industry veteran Louis Castle as its leader in March 2017. It was renamed Relentless Studios in early 2020, drawing from ' original idea for Amazon's domain name, Relentless.com. The studio gained prominence for developing , Amazon's first major original video game, a third-person launched on May 20, 2020, for Windows PC, which featured team-based PvP combat on alien planets but was shut down later that year due to low player engagement. Following Crucible's closure in November 2020, the Relentless team shifted resources to support other Amazon projects, including contributions to , a 2021 open-world MMORPG set in a colonial-era supernatural island, developed primarily by Amazon Games but bolstered by Seattle's expertise in multiplayer systems. Relentless emphasizes innovative online experiences, leveraging Amazon's technology like AWS for scalable gaming infrastructure, though it has faced challenges, including significant layoffs in October 2025 as part of a broader restructuring at Games that also ended active development on New World.

History

Establishment as Amazon Game Studios Seattle

Amazon Game Studios Seattle was established in 2012 as a key development arm of Amazon Game Studios, focusing on creating original targeted at PC and console platforms as part of Amazon's broader push into . This initiative aligned with Amazon's strategy to expand beyond mobile and social games, leveraging the company's technological infrastructure to compete in the competitive gaming market. To build its core team, the studio aggressively recruited experienced developers from prominent industry players, emphasizing expertise in multiplayer and live-service game design. These hires brought proven skills in crafting engaging online experiences, enabling the studio to rapidly scale from a small operation to a dedicated group capable of handling complex, ambitious projects. In 2017, Louis Castle, co-founder of , was appointed as head of the studio. During its formative phase, the studio concentrated on internal work, developing prototypes for genres such as hero shooters and massively multiplayer online games without any public disclosures. This behind-the-scenes effort allowed for iterative experimentation and refinement of concepts tailored to Amazon's vision for interconnected, spectator-friendly titles. The studio's operations were deeply integrated with Amazon's ecosystem from the outset, particularly through the adoption of (AWS) for development tools and backend support. This included utilizing the newly released Lumberyard game engine in 2016, which was built on and optimized for AWS cloud services, facilitating scalable prototyping and testing for multiplayer environments.

Renaming to Relentless Studios

In late 2019, Game Studios was officially rebranded as Relentless Studios, a name inspired by Jeff Bezos's original consideration for the company's domain, relentless.com, to embody 's commitment to relentless innovation and agility in game development. The rebranding occurred under the leadership of Christoph Hartmann, who joined as vice president of in 2018 and drove strategic changes to instill a culture of rapid iteration, player feedback, and more flexible development practices. By 2020, the Seattle-based team had expanded significantly within , emphasizing cross-studio collaboration to support broader initiatives in publishing and live-service models. Early communications from the studio hinted at forthcoming titles geared toward live-service experiences, aligning with Amazon's evolving focus on ongoing player engagement without specifying project details. In October 2025, , including Relentless Studios, was affected by company-wide layoffs impacting approximately 14,000 corporate roles, leading to the halt of significant development efforts, such as further updates to .

Developed games

Crucible

Crucible is a third-person developed by Relentless Studios, initially conceived in 2016 as Amazon Game Studios' first major foray into multiplayer gaming. Announced at 2016, the project underwent approximately five years of development, evolving from early concepts like the last-person-standing mode Alpha Hunters into a experience blending mechanics with MOBA-style objectives. Set on alien planets, the game featured class-based where selected from a roster of heroes, each with unique abilities, engaging in team-based matches typically involving 12 in modes such as Heart of the Hives, which emphasized PvE/PvP objectives like capturing hive hearts. Key elements included hero-specific powers for strategic depth and dynamic map interactions that encouraged evolving tactics during matches, all built on the proprietary engine for scalable multiplayer support. The game launched on May 20, 2020, exclusively for Windows through the app, starting with an invite-only phase before transitioning to open beta access. It quickly reached a peak of around 25,000 concurrent players on launch day, bolstered by promotional streams on that drew over 120,000 viewers, but numbers declined sharply thereafter, dropping to under 5,000 within weeks amid feedback on and content variety. relied on a model with cosmetic purchases and battle passes, but it struggled to retain players in a crowded genre dominated by titles like and . On October 9, 2020, Relentless Studios announced the end of active development for , citing insufficient player retention and challenges in achieving sustainable monetization after reviewing feedback and metrics. Servers were taken offline permanently on November 9, 2020, less than six months after launch, with the team reassigned to support other projects like . Assets and technologies from Crucible, including Lumberyard customizations, were repurposed as internal tools to inform future multiplayer infrastructure. The closure represented a costly lesson for , with development expenses estimated at around $80 million for this AAA-scale title. Critically, received mixed reviews, earning a score of 56/100 based on 17 critic assessments, praised for its ambitious design and visual fidelity but criticized for unbalanced abilities, absent voice chat, and an unpolished that hindered . Common complaints highlighted imbalances and a lack of cohesive identity, blending , MOBA, and shooter elements without fully excelling in any. Despite some positive notes on character variety and atmospheric alien settings, the game's reception underscored broader challenges in Amazon's early efforts, serving as a high-profile "learning experience" for the company.

New World

Relentless Studios provided additional backend support and technical infrastructure for New World, an MMORPG primarily developed by Amazon Games Orange County. Following the 2020 shutdown of Crucible, Relentless Studios ramped up involvement in New World during 2020–2021, redirecting resources from the failed shooter to bolster the MMO's technical foundation. This shift incorporated lessons from Crucible's server challenges, emphasizing robust backend engineering to support expansive open-world interactions. New World utilizes AWS services such as Amazon EC2 for compute instances handling up to 2,500 players per world and for managing game state with high write throughput, ensuring seamless multiplayer experiences across global regions. New World launched on September 28, 2021, for Windows via , achieving a peak of 707,230 concurrent players on launch day. Relentless Studios contributed to the game's backend . The studio's AWS-integrated helped address initial launch hurdles, such as server queues, by dynamically scaling resources to accommodate over 900,000 concurrent users without widespread downtime. Relentless Studios continued providing ongoing support for , including live operations and bug fixes through major updates like New World: Aeternum, which introduced console ports for and Series X/S on October 15, 2024. Their backend expertise aided in maintaining server stability and player engagement post-launch, contrasting sharply with 's rapid decline by delivering sustained technical reliability that supported millions of player hours. However, in October 2025, Amazon Games announced the end of significant content development for , though servers were committed to remain operational through 2026 with continued bug fixes handled by teams including those from Relentless Studios.

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