Clint Hocking among three prominent Amazon Game Studios resignations

Amazon Game Studios has suddenly begun haemorrhaging high profile employees. What gives?

Well-known industry veteran Clint Hocking has left Amazon Game Studios.

This on its own isn't tremendous news, as the Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory and Far Cry 2 creative seems to be forever leaving places (Ubisoft, Valve) - but two other highly-placed staffers have also hit the road, according to MCV.

Eric Nylund was, until very recently, Amazon Game Studios' director of narrative design. He's a 13-year Microsoft veteran who worked on the Halo franchise. Former Crystal Dynamics staffer Jonathan Hamel has also upped stakes.

It's unusual to see so many important employees exit except at the end of a major project - has there been a cancellation? - or when they're running off to form an indie. Speculation ahoy!

In any case, Portal creator Kim Swift and fellow Valve alumni Tom Leonard still seem to be on board alongside many other talented creators, so don't go all prophet of doom on the mega-retailer's development initative just yet.

Amazon Game Studios was announced in August 2012, kicking off with the release of a social game. Since then, the company bought out original Killer Instinct reboot developer Double Helix Games, and published many third-party mobile efforts like Human Head's Lost Within. It has apparently started work on an "ambitious" PC game.