Gaming
Christoph Hartmann exits Amazon games after eight years
MUMBAI: It seems Amazon’s gaming division has finally met its final boss. After nearly eight years at the helm, Christoph Hartmann is reportedly packing up his controller and heading for the exit. The news, first reported by Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, marks the end of an era for the man who steered the New World and Lost Ark ships into the choppy waters of the MMO market.
While Hartmann’s departure might look like a simple game over, it is actually part of a massive tactical pivot. Amazon appears to be retreating from the costly, high-stakes world of traditional AAA console and PC development. Instead of chasing the next blockbuster epic, the company is looking skyward by focusing its energy on Amazon Luna, its dedicated cloud gaming service.
This leadership shuffle coincides with a broader wave of 16,000 redundancies across the Amazon empire. For gamers, the most poignant bit of lag is the news that New World: Aeternum is set to go offline permanently in January 2027. It appears the company is no longer interested in building digital worlds from scratch, but rather in providing the cloud-based pipes to stream them.
Hartmann leaves behind a legacy of taking Amazon from a struggling studio to a genuine, if brief, contender in the PC gaming space. Looking forward, the hardware focus is shifting entirely to Luna infrastructure. Rumours suggest the new-look Amazon Games will be heavily bolstered by AI-integrated experiences rather than traditional software. Whether this move is a masterstroke or a massive misclick remains to be seen. For now, the Amazon Games office is looking a little bit emptier, and the cloud is looking a lot more crowded.
Gaming
IICT signs three MoUs to boost AVGC-XR and esports
Partnerships with Zenfluencers, Yologram and Eruditio at Chennai Gaming Show 2026 strengthen education, XR innovation and nationwide talent outreach.
MUMBAI: IICT has just levelled up the game in a big way. The Indian Institute of Creative Technologies signed three strategic Memorandums of Understanding on 17 April 2026 at the CII Summit FX – India Gaming Show in Chennai, forging alliances with The Zenfluencers, Yologram Style Pvt. Ltd. and Eruditio Consultants to accelerate India’s AVGC-XR ecosystem.
The tie-ups combine IICT’s strengths in education, skilling and research with specialist expertise across esports, immersive technologies and large-scale outreach.
- With The Zenfluencers, IICT will roll out globally benchmarked esports programmes, including joint certification courses, industry workshops, tournaments and masterclasses, creating clear career pathways across the full esports value chain.
- The partnership with Yologram Style Pvt. Ltd. focuses on gaming, immersive storytelling and extended reality (XR), delivering industry-aligned curriculum, faculty mentorship, student showcases and collaborative research in immersive AI and virtual production.
- Collaboration with Eruditio Consultants targets awareness, accessibility and career alignment, with nationwide counsellor training, institutional engagement and structured guidance frameworks to reach students beyond Tier-1 cities.
IICT CEO Vishwas Deoskar said, “As the AVGC-XR sector evolves at a rapid pace, strong collaborations between industry and academia are essential. These partnerships will create meaningful impact across education, innovation and outreach.”
Yologram Style Pvt. Ltd. founder Aditya Mani added, “AI-driven creator worlds are transforming games into engines of culture, commerce and careers. Together we aim to empower a generation to build immersive futures.”
Eruditio Consultants founder Indrajit Ghosh noted, “This is not just about awareness, it is about building a structured ecosystem that connects aspiration with opportunity.”
The Zenfluencers CEO Atharva Gupta said, “This MoU is a big unlock moment for the esports ecosystem in India. We’re building a structured pipeline for talent across the full stack.”
By bringing together academia, industry leaders and ecosystem players, IICT is creating scalable models that blend cutting-edge skills with real-world relevance. In a sector racing toward the future, these three partnerships ensure India’s next generation of creative technologists won’t just keep up, they’ll set the pace.
