Amazon Games
In 2018, Hartmann joined Amazon as vice president of Amazon Game Studios,[14] charged with leading the development and publishing businesses[3] in Orange County, San Diego, and Seattle.[14] At the time, each game published by Amazon was treated as its own business; Hartmann established a centralized publishing division within the company.[3][15] Hartmann relaxed the unit's requirement to use the Amazon Lumberyard game engine, opening up development using Unreal Engine. He also encouraged Amazon to publish titles developed by other companies.[10]
Shortly after Hartmann joined Amazon Games, the organization published Crucible and then returned it to closed beta[16] and eventually canceled it in 2020.[17] The company also developed and published New World, released in 2021,[1] and published Lost Ark (originally published in South Korea in 2019) in North America and other regions in 2022.[18][15] Amazon Games opened a fourth office in Montreal after Hartmann hired the core team that created Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege in 2021.[19][20] In September 2021, under Hartmann's leadership, Amazon Games announced a publishing deal with UK-based developer Glowmade (composed of Lionhead Studios alumni),[3] for a new game based on original IP.[21] The game, a cooperative combat multiplayer game, was officially revealed in August 2024 as King of Meat.[22]
In 2022, after the departure of previous head Mike Frazzini, Hartmann assumed leadership of Amazon Games and Prime Gaming.[23] In addition to the publishing agreement he secured with UK studio Glowmade, he is also responsible for several others for Amazon Games: with Embracer Group[24] and Crystal Dynamics to publish the next game in the Tomb Raider franchise,[25][26] with Disruptive Games,[27] and with Bandai Namco to publish Blue Protocol in the west.[28]
In October 2022, Variety included Hartmann in its annual list of leaders in entertainment gaming.[29] The next year, Amazon Games announced a partnership with NCSoft to publish Throne and Liberty,[30] which launched for Western audiences on October 1, 2024.[31][32] In May 2023, Hartmann secured an agreement with Embracer Group, owner of Middle-earth Enterprises, for Amazon Games to create a massively multiplayer online game based on The Lord of the Rings.[33][34]
In May 2024, Amazon Games, under Hartmann's direction, announced a new publishing agreement with developer Maverick Games, veteran developers behind the Forza Horizon series, for a yet unannounced open world, narrative-led driving game for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.[35][36] That same month, Amazon Games announced the opening of a new game development studio in Europe, based in Bucharest, Romania, expanding on the business's commitment to develop and publish games.[37]
In June 2024, Amazon Games announced the major content expansion of its popular RPG New World with New World: Aeternum, extending the game beyond PC to consoles, including PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. New World: Aeternum officially launched on October 15, 2024.[38][39]
