Could Amazon’s Crucible Disrupt The eSports Scene?

Amazon will soon be releasing their own eSports title, can it be a disruptor in the market? With their ability to penetrate the likes of Twitch, it is certainly likely that you'll be seeing a lot more of Amazon Games' biggest offering yet.

Could Amazon's Crucible Disrupt The eSports Scene?

Amazon Game Studios will soon be releasing their first major budget title. Crucible will be launching on May 20th as a free to play PC exclusive game and follows in the vein of Overwatch, Apex Legends, Fortnite and upcoming Riot game Valorant.

The studio synopsis for the game reads as follows:

Crucible is a free-to-play team-based action shooter where your gameplay is defined by the choices you make. Pick a hunter and join a match. You’ll need to coordinate with your teammates; take advantage of your hunter’s unique upgrades as you level up, and adapt to the ever-changing conditions of battle.

The game itself will feature different characters on the roster with specific abilities alongside three distinctive game modes. The modes have been designed to mimic those seen in some of eSports biggest games; these of course include the aforementioned Overwatch, Apex and Fortnite. Here’s an overview of the modes currently:

Crucible – Distinctive Modes

  • Heart of the Hives – This mode will feature a four-versus-four style which sees two teams battle against AI-controlled enemies.
  • Alpha Hunters – This mode will see eight teams of two combatants compete in a battle-royale styled contest. The last team standing will be declared the overall winner.
  • Harvester Command – This game mode has elements of League of Legends, as it will be showcasing two teams of 8 combatants where the contest is designed to collect ‘essence.’ There will also be opportunities to level up characters mid-game, which gives a slight RPG feel to proceedings.
Many shots were fired that day.

Many shots were fired that day.

Amazon Market Penetration

If you’ve already seen some of the Twitch streams of Valorant, the ‘first look’ video above from Amazon may seem familiar. The ingenious marketing decision behind Valorant was that prospect ‘beta’ players had to watch Twitch streams to potentially get a code to play the game itself. Now, with Twitch being the behemoth of gaming content that it is, Crucible is going to get a hell of a leg up when it comes to market penetration.

Why? Because Amazon owns Twitch.

Market Disruptor

When it comes to disruptors in gaming, the two biggest factors are the quality of the product itself and the aforementioned market penetration of said product. With Amazon already holding one of the major cards, that being Twitch, they can essentially flood the platform with advertising. The real question is going to be if gamers latch on to the product. Or will it feel like too much of a derivative of other popular titles? We’re only going to be able to decipher that when the game releases in full later this month. 

Realistically? It doesn’t matter if the game itself is any good at this point. Crucible will be launching well ahead of the full release of Valorant. It will be free to play, and one of the biggest companies in the world is behind it.

Part of Amazon’s marketing spiel is the idea of starting on a ‘level playing field.’ The official website for the sites reads “begin every match on a level playing field. Each hunter has their full array of weapons and abilities at their disposal from the word ‘go.'” This already gives the casual gamer incentive to get in on the action, as well as hardened veterans in the field.

As a company, Amazon have an ability to ‘blunt force’ their way into the consciousness of the consumer. A huge amount of potential customers already have access to their Prime service, which includes Video, delivery and a ton of other extras. With all of those routes to consumer on hand? Amazon will be able to saturate and make every single person. Be that casual, hardcore or even non-plussed individuals aware of Crucible’s existence.

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