Clint Hocking and Kim Swift join up with Amazon Game Studios

Amazon continues to bolster its game-making talent, most recently with the hire of noted game designers Kim Swift and Clint Hocking. The news, first reported by Kotaku and then confirmed by Gamasutra's own sources, comes courtesy of the pair's LinkedIn profiles -- Hocking's page suggests that he's been working at Amazon Game Studios as a senior game designer since February, while Swift's page claims that she started working at the studio as a senior game designer this month. Hocking, an industry veteran who has previously served as creative director at Ubisoft and later Lucasarts, left a job at Valve earlier this year. Kim Swift also left a job at Valve years ago to work with Airtight Games on Quantum Conundrum and later Soul Fjord. Gamasutra attempted to reach Hocking for comment, but was scooped by intrepid editor-at-large Leigh Alexander inadvertently receiving confirmation from Hocking directly via Twitter.

By the same token, while Gamasutra has reached out to Kim Swift directly for comment and further information on what she's working on, she has begun publicly acknowledging the job change via Twitter.

Nevertheless, Gamasutra continues to hold out for further comment on the news from both designers. We have also reached out to Amazon for comment on the studio's future plans. This news is just one high-profile part of a continued effort Amazon Game Studios is making around talent acquisition for experienced game developers, according to Gamasutra sources. Earlier this year, Killer Instinct creator Double Helix Games was acquired by Amazon, and today Amazon Game Studios released its first game for Amazon's new Fire TV console: Sev Zero.