Talking with CNET about the future of gaming streaming, sources familiar with the plans of the company say that Amazon is set to announce its own service next year, with a launch date as early as Christmas 2020.
This comes as a surprise. Whilst reports of Amazon Game Studios starting its own service have been around as early as January, the company then laid off an undisclosed number of employees in June; all the more bittersweet that this was during E3, the industry’s biggest gaming conference.
Since the studio’s inception in 2012, Amazon hasn’t even launched that many games. The most noteworthy was The Grand Tour Game, which hardly set the gaming world on fire.
The Grand Tour Game
Industry analysts however, say that with Amazon’s already-dominant business empire in the form of it’s retail delivery, video streaming, music streaming and grocery delivery services, a gaming streaming service that would try to compete with the big players in the next console generation was inevitable. This was backed up further by the words of Michael Pachter, a Wedbush Securities analyst:
The odds of them letting the Scarlett and PS5 launch without Amazon being there is zero.
Although PlayStation and Microsoft’s gaming subscription services, PlayStation Now and Game Pass, are the biggest rivals, they won’t be the most immediate priority for Amazon, as those services still require a console or PC to use.
Urgent competition will be that from Google Stadia. Launched on November 19th and only requiring the bundled controller and Chromecast to play, it’s perfect for those who don’t already own an Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, or viable gaming PC.
Reviews to Google Stadia have been mixed, though. Whilst as a service on paper, it can be worth the money depending on what games you’re after. Unfortunately, the launch has been met with frequent issues in terms of stability and game quality.
