It turned out to be an apparmor profile that restricted reading /dev. Skype needs to be able to enumerate /dev to find a webcam.
Even though Skype is linked with gstreamer, it doesn't require gstreamer1.0-plugins-good for accessing the webcam. Sorry for the buzz. Hope this might help someone else. ** Changed in: skype (Ubuntu) Status: New => Invalid ** Tags added: amd64 -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1480596 Title: Skype cannot find webcam on amd64 To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/skype/+bug/1480596/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs