IbizaPocholo
NeoGAFs Kent Brockman
Google Stadia wants to be the future of gaming. So do Microsoft, Sony and Amazon
The game streaming future is here, but who's gonna sell it to you?
www.cnet.com
One of the most anticipated entrants into cloud gaming is Amazon. The online shopping giant already sells video games, video game consoles and accessories. It also owns Twitch, a service that allows you to watch other people play games live.
But it has ambitions to do more, including a game streaming service to compete with Google, Microsoft and Sony, though it hasn't discussed its game streaming service publicly.
Amazon is planning to announce its service next year, according to two people familiar with the company's plans. It's begun recruiting people from large game companies like Microsoft to help with the launch, as well as hiring for jobs in a "new initiative" within its Amazon Web Services team, which sources said is involved in Amazon's future gaming service.
"We believe the evolution that began with arcade communities a quarter at a time, growing to the live streams and e-sports of today, will continue to a future where everyone is a gamer and every gamer can create, compete, collaborate and connect with others at massive scales," one job posting this month showed. And in at least one other job posting, the company said it wants to "drive innovative new use cases like machine vision and game streaming."
Amazon said in yet another job posting that it plans to integrate its new initiative with Twitch and the company's other services.
The Information earlier reported on Amazon's plans, citing a possible launch next year. Amazon didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Industry insiders believe Amazon's plans for a future video game service are a foregone conclusion, despite struggles in its game-making studios, which saw layoffs earlier this year. Instead, these people cite the company's sprawling $119 per year Prime subscription empire, which already includes music streaming, lauded video projects like The Man in the High Castle, free grocery delivery and more.
"The odds of them letting the Scarlett and PS5 launch without Amazon being there is zero," said Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, referring to Microsoft's upcoming Xbox and Sony's next PlayStation.
