Amazon has added another installment,Crucible, to the list of games from its new game development branch.
Back in 2012, Amazon created a new gaming branch titled “Amazon Game Studios,” and it has finally gotten around toreleasing a big-budget gameeight years later on Steam.Crucibleis a free to play shooter that deviates from the typical tablet games it produces, though it does now have other major projects in the works.
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An example of this would beAmazon adding Twitch Primeaccounts to its Amazon Prime subscription services, giving members exclusive features on the streaming platform. Loup Ventures' Doug Clinton goes on to comment that the possible reasoning behind Amazon’s decision for this expansion is because “When you win the younger consumer, that’s a way to [permanently win] the whole household.”
Even with this release, Amazon’s gaming studios are already showing troubling signs of dealing with development. Last year theAmazon’s gaming branch fired multiple game developersand canceled numerous unannounced titles slated for production.Crucibleis also entering an oversaturated game market, competing against established games likeFortniteandPlayerUnknown’s Battleground, while also coming up againstCall of Duty: Warzone’srecent massive success, all possibly harming the company’s gaming future.
However, even ifCrucibledoesn’t succeed, this won’t stop Amazon from creating new games. Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter goes on to say, “Games is a hard business, so it makes sense that it takes a while to develop a hit and [it] makes sense that they will tweak their model and headcount as they evolve.” The studio already has anotherMMO calledNew Worldready to fill the void ifCruciblehappens to fail. As Amazon is getting’s its bearing through the early stages of gaming development, it seems its ploy at the moment is to throw all its darts at the board to see what sticks. It’ll be interesting to see how much longer Amazon will be willing to devote to its gaming branch to compete with the other companies leaping towards the gaming industry.
