Amazon is all set to give tough competition to Google’s Stadia in the cloud gaming service space. As Amazon’s entry in gaming is setting the rumor mills on fire, it is estimated that an announcement may come in early next year. A report published by ‘The Information’ back in January first revealed the advent of Amazon’s gaming service, however the estimates at the time said that this wouldn’t be launched anytime before 2020.
Further evidence about Amazon’s gaming service comes in the form of its widespread hiring for a supposed ‘new initiative’ within the Web Services Team. This team, however, is believed to be at the center of the gaming service development. It is believed that Amazon aims to integrate the gaming service with Twitch and is somewhat similar to Google’s plans for merging Stadia with YouTube.
One of the job listings that supposedly belongs to the gaming service is that of a “Principal Product Leader” that is required for a “New AWS Gaming Initiative”. While the job posting does not reveal much about the kind of service on offer, it does highlight a bold ambition on the part of Amazon. There were also two other job postings for engineers efficient in “Cloud Games,” and one of the posts even mentioned about a new games business.
Amazon’s brand is hardly relatable to a gaming company but with its ambition to enter into cloud gaming service is understandable considering the huge potential that the service has. Amazon has a massive infrastructure and a lot of streaming knowledge considering the presence of AWS and its potential to power the internet. A lot of tech pundits consider this expertise to work wonders for Amazon to develop a cloud gaming service. Twitch as a live-streaming service offered by Amazon has gained a lot of popularity in no time and this brings in some know-how for Amazon about the kind of games people prefer to play.
Amazon and Google are only two of the many companies that are starting to aggressively focus on cloud gaming. For most tech companies today, this field is slated to become a battleground as each one fights it out with their niche services. Most early entrants such as Gaikai and even OnLive got acquired by biggies such as Sony. This helped Sony to further enhance its PlayStation Now service.
Only time will tell how Amazon succeeds at this new gaming service offering, but what is most exciting to look forward to is that 2020 could very well be the year of cloud gaming.
