Amazon Hiring Devs For Its First PC Game

An anonymous reader writes: Several outlets are reporting that Amazon is preparing to dip its toes in yet another market: PC video games. They're specifically hiring for this purpose now, though they seem to have had plans for some time: "In addition to acquiring Killer Instinct developer Double Helix last year, Amazon has also hired notable developers like Kim Swift, designer of Portal, as well as Clint Hocking, who previously worked on franchises like Far Cry and Splinter Cell. Meanwhile, according to a report from Kotaku, Amazon has spent a lot of cash licensing the CryEngine, the same one used to make high-end PC games like Crysis 3. Outside of development, Amazon also acquired game streaming service Twitch last August for $970 million, and made gaming a big focus for its Fire TV media box."

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Re:Got some star power

[Dutch Gun]

From what I've seen, there seem to be very few H1Bs in the videogame industry. It's also been surprisingly resilient to outsourcing as well. It could have something to do with both the high degree of technical specialization required, as well as the close coordination required with artists, game designers, sound designers, composers, and QA, meaning that videogame programmers have to be pretty good about working and communicating with non-technical developers / team members. A lot of software development is mostly about writing code, but creating a game requires a very diverse team to work very closely together and iterate quickly on new ideas and concepts.

I know one game development colleague who went to Amazon not too long ago. Maybe I'll meet up with him for lunch one of these days and see how he's enjoying things there. Amazon strikes me as a Microsoft-type developer, and that doesn't bode well for their first offering (for example, the first Kindle was hideously designed). They tend to get things right on their second or even third go-round though. I'll be curious to see what they can do... they certainly have the financial backing to do something quite impressive, but money alone won't make a great game. Just ask Curt Shilling.