Video Gamer is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Prices subject to change. Learn more
Amazon is deliberating beginning its own rival streaming service that would compete against Project xCloud, PlayStation Now and Google Stadia, according to reports (via VGC).
"The odds of them letting the Scarlett and PS5 launch without Amazon being there is zero," said Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, to CNET. Industry insiders allege that Amazon is planning to unveil its own cloud gaming punt in 2020, and to achieve this, it’s been hiring for a new web service project so that “every gamer can create, compete, collaborate and connect with others at massive scales.” Given where we are today, that sounds very streamlike to me.
Amazon Game Studios has developed games like Airport Mania, Sev Zero, Til Morning’s Light, and The Grand Tour Game for consoles and mobile platforms. Although the division suffered redundancies and multiple cancellations of to-be-announced titles, the support for a streaming service would come from the outstanding Prime subscription total. Around $119 million is generated purely from Prime each year, and sources cite this pot of gold with adjacent movie, television, and movie streaming capabilities as the motivating force.
Of course, this claim has not been officially acknowledged by Amazon, so we must take this discovery with a pinch of salt. However, Amazon has all of the facilities to effectively execute its own streaming service, and sources are saying it’s a “foregone conclusion” for the commerce giant. We’ll have to wait and see, but we do know that Amazon Game Studios are beavering away on a free-to-play Lord of the Rings MMO for PC and consoles.
