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."

Comments

EA again?

[Kormoran]

Big business can't create art... my bet is against it

Re:EA again?

[Anonymous Coward]

Their original series are good, why shouldn't a game be?

Re:EA again?

[Osgeld]

they dont have to create art, they have to create something that sells like reality tv and big mac's

art is not even a consideration

Re:EA again?

[Dutch Gun]

Big business can't create it, but they CAN finance it, which is a necessary part of videogame development. And the financiers can be valuable partners in the process, so long as they're willing to mostly get out of the way and let the creative people do their thing. Microsoft, as one example, has been historically poor at this. Let's face it, everyone both wants to be and thinks they can be a game designer. Many videogames die a lingering death because of idiots from management sticking their fingers in the game design pie. I've also seen the opposite, where our team was given incredible support from the higher-ups with minimal interference, and their faith was ultimately rewarded with best-selling games and excellent reviews.

Not all bad games are because of management, of course, but they've seemed to be a significant factor in a few of the games I've worked on that have gotten into trouble.

Re:EA again?

[Hognoxious]

Throw in a bit of resource management - moving your stash around to avoid the evil gold-gobbling monsters called Ayaress and Aransee.

Yes!

[pushing-robot]

Finally, the video game adaptation of Foodfight!

My prediction

[Hognoxious]

It will suck big time.

I'm excited

[Karmashock]

Amazon is not EA. Their attitudes are different and their profoilo is a pretty diversified at this point.

Will the game be any good? I have no idea. But I'm excited to see new money come into the market and try things.

Frankly, I like games more than I like movies or tv shows. My music collection hasn't changed much further in the last 10 years. I've hit that age.

And that means if you want to sell me content, you have to target me. And game... I likes them.

Re:I'm excited

[Karmashock]

harumph... First what is your problem with the way they treat their employees? That the warehouse employees aren't unionized? Is that it? Because most of the "they treat their employees badly" stuff these days is little more than poorly disguised agitation on the part of organized labor.

Second, I don't even know where you listen to new music anymore. I used to get new music off the radio or MTV or I'd pick something up in a CD shop that looked interesting. Today... I have no idea. what... spotify and pandora? I tell them what I like and they just play stuff from my generation. So I don't get exposed to anything new. What do you want me to type into the fucking thing?

I don't know where you get off presuming to judge me actually... who the fuck do you think you are? You think you're going to listen to the newest thing for your whole life?

First off, music is increasingly a less important part of my life. It bores me. Movies increasingly bore me as well. I see a couple blockbusters a year and that's it. The rest is tiresome. I enjoy a few of the good cable/streaming shows. I enjoy house of cards, game of thrones, etc. But really when it comes to my personal entertainment... I like games. And I like specific kinds and it is in my interest as a consumer of games to have as many people pumping money into the industry as possible. Amazon wants to pump money in? Good. We'll see what comes of it.

Oh and go fuck yourself with a rake. :D

Re:I'm excited

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow, that hit a nerve huh? Let's see...

First, go google how they treat their office employees. Not the warehouse ones, the white collar jobs. They are very much like EA in the demands of hours and work, at the expense of 'life' (family, social, etc.)

Second, judge you? How was that judging? You yourself implied that the reason your music collection hasn't changed in years is because of the age you reached. I was saying that there is no such thing. There is no magical age you reach that you suddenly stop looking for new music, there is however a mindset that will lead you to stopping. Hell, I didn't even make a judgement on the mindset, I just refuted your assertion that anything was age-based.

You're comfortable and that's fine, though obviously not that comfortable given your complete meltdown, but that is a choice by you, and nothing to do with age.

Let me say it again, since you seem to have trouble with comprehension: _You_ said not changing your music collection has something to do with age. I said it isn't age based. It's a mentality. If you wanted to go search for new music, you could. You choose not to; you didn't simply have a birthday and something in your DNA prevented you from finding/enjoying anything new.

Was that clear enough for you, or should I get out the finger-paints?

Your (over)reaction was amusing though, thanks for that.

I'm guessing free to play

[rsilvergun]

that's not necessarily a bad thing. Think Hawken, Hearthstone & LOL. But there isn't much money in AAA titles unless you're an established franchise and there isn't squat in the indies.

Why do they want to be like Valve/Steam?

[RubberDogBone]

I get why Amazon wants to/has to make their own video content: People expect it these days and they have to compete with Netflix and HBO. But in gaming, there are already a ton of publishers and a ton more developers in all shapes and sizes and for all markets and kinds of games.

It is a great time to be a PC gamer. There's so much choice. If you don't think there is, try playing something new instead of the same old things.

Anyway, there are a lot of people making games. Some great, some good, some bad. What is Amazon going to bring to this that isn't already being done? It's not like the video service where they have to meet expectations, and it's not an unmet need since there already are tons of games.

Amazon is hiring some heavy hitters and spending A-level cash on game engines. This says they intend to bring out an epic franchise brand, which means they will have to spend a LOT on making it, and take years, and after all the work, maybe people won't want to play it. Most games end up like that, especially the big, grand, spendy grand attempts. Very few of those command lasting presence. So they're basically betting a lot on what will probably be ONE title and the odds are it won't be huge hit. Maybe a moderate hit. Why do this? Why take on that financial risk when there are plenty of existing companies and people who already do that?

Amazon already sells their games, and now they have Twitch to show them off too. Amazon doesn't need to make content in this space.
 

Command a warehouse robot

[Anonymous Coward]

Due to the lack of sufficiently advanced image recognition software Amazon is going to employ gamers to identify shelf items.

Got some star power

[Osgeld]

Now its time to hire even more H1B's!

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.

Re:Got some star power

[Anonymous Coward]

H1B has low representation in gaming because it is the one software-development labor market in which Americans are already worked harder than, and paid less than, H1Bs. Also, H1B holders are generally smart enough to take one look at the industry and bolt, unlike fresh-out-of-college American kids with gaming addictions.

Bezos is a control freak

[Spy Handler]

who used to dictate the placement of every pixel on Amazon website, according to Steve Yegge.

Fire smartphone had 3-D features that required immense processing power (which meant sacrificing battery life and other things) and therefore written off by the engineers as being not practical. But Bezos was in love with the features and he basically said the phone ships with 3-D or you're all fired.

I can't see the Amazon game ending well.

Re:Bezos is a control freak

[gl4ss]

what you mean with 3d features that require immense power?

opengl support and a gpu like any 100 bucks phone on the market now?

Re:Bezos is a control freak

[Spy Handler]

The 3D feature was called "dynamic perspective". The heavy battery drain was not actually from the gpu processing/rendering, it was because the feature needed 4 separate cameras (one on each corner of the phone) that had its own access to the facial recognition software.

Interesting read: http://www.fastcompany.com/303...

PC Games

[tomhath]

Why does everything have to be Politically Correct these days? Just make the game fun to play.

Depends on the Focus....

[Immostlyharmless]

If Amazon hires the good talent, let's them do what they need to do, great things could come out of this. As long as they aren't Yahoo-ing it. I remember back when Yahoo purchased All Seeing Eye, and then they ignored it and let it languish. So sad, with some focused effort a lot of the properties that Yahoo picked up could have flourished, instead they stagnated and died. Hopefully Amazon won't go too far either way and picks the sweet spot right in the middle where they are going to hire talented people and then let them do talented things.

So what's the title?

[St.Creed]

My guess: Attack of the Drones.

Bullshit

[goldcd]

Ubisoft, who are right up there with EA released Valiant Hearts, which from editorial seems to have been borne from a desire of their internal "drones"
MS and Sony have both released a plethora of great Indie stuff on their platforms
The PC's renaissance is leading the pack mind - but I've never in my life had so many great and different games exposed to me as a have today.

Maybe "big business" can't create art - but it can certainly provide an environment in which it can flourish, and hand over a percentage of sales.

I'm sure we can argue over the details - but gaming is getting more commercial by the year, and I've never had games so good.

Re:First

[davester666]

Yes. Yes you are.

Now go put your helmet back on and play in your room.

Re:And here's the proof

[Karmashock]

yawn... did you have a credible claim against amazon or just further proof that AC's shouldn't be able to post due to statistically low IQ?