New rumors on the currently secret Amazon cloud gaming service have emerged today. The first report on the story, as some may recall, was provided by The Information in early January 2019. At that time we learned game publishers had already been informed of the Amazon cloud gaming service.
We haven't heard any rumors since, but CNET is now reporting that two people familiar with the company's plans have confirmed the goal to announce everything next year. Considering we're almost in December, the announcement could conceivably take place in the next few months.
The report is further corroborated by news of Amazon hiring from other game companies such as Microsoft's Xbox to help with the upcoming release. A couple of job listings also shed a bit more light in that direction, such as the currently open Principal Product Leader position for a 'new Amazon Web Services gaming initiative'.
Amazon is all in on games. 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. If you share our belief that games will produce some of the future’s most influential voices in media and art, and want to help developers around the world succeed and build these next-generation games -- come join us.
Another job opening (though no applications for this one are being accepted anymore, in case you were interested) on LinkedIn saw Amazon seeking a General Manager at Amazon Linux. As you can see, the listing mentions 'new uses cases' including game streaming.
Our products need to be highly reliable, secure, and compliant with the most stringent standards, while continuing to drive innovative new use cases like machine vision and game streaming.
As we've said before, an Amazon cloud gaming service makes perfect sense given the company's strong existing AWS cloud infrastructure. There are more good reasons for them to go all-in on an Amazon cloud gaming bid, though. Firstly, it could be tied into Twitch (just like Google is doing with Stadia and YouTube). Unlike Google, which only recently began assembling first-party studios under Jade Raymond, Amazon already has its own Game Studios in place working on MMO games like New World and a Lord of the Rings free-to-play title. These could become exclusive content for the new platform, something that has been an issue for Google Stadia so far.
Stadia launched a few days ago amid numerous problems, chiefly the delays in Founder's Editions/activation codes shipping and the disappointing graphics quality of some games compared to other platforms and Google's own promises, as titles like Destiny 2 and Red Dead Redemption 2 aren't running at 4K resolution. That said, Eurogamer's Digital Foundry pointed out it is still the best game streaming service available yet.
With Project xCloud's beta preview expanding in 2020 and other players such as Verizon rumored to be readying their own offerings, this is just the beginning of the fight for the gaming cloud. Stay tuned on Wccftech for all the latest on this emerging technology.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.
