Amazon Moves into Making Games with Sci-Fi Shooter Crucible

According to a report in The New York Times, Amazon is almost ready to launch its sci-fi shooter, Crucible, into the world as the first major game the company has developed on its own.

The big picture: The Times says Amazon has poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into its new development studio, dubbed Relentless Studios, to compete with rivals like Microsoft, which owns Xbox One and has its own development studio, and Google, which is pushing into the streaming game arena with Stadia.

Behind the scenes: Gaming is a massive market, estimated to generate more than $150 billion in 2019, an almost 10 percent jump over the previous year. Amazon will be in a better position to take some of that money with games it develops itself.

The details: The game, which may be ready as soon as May (it's been delayed by coronavirus concerns), is planned as a "last man standing" shooter set in a world so dangerous players will need to occasionally team up to survive. Crucible will likely play well on Amazon-owned Twitch, which lets gamers watch others play big-budget gamers.

Bottom line: Amazon's investment into development continues with A New World, a sandbox-style MMO that could compete with the likes of World of Warcraft, another huge success for Blizzard Entertainment. If Amazon's games do well, players will have another huge title to explore, streamers will have another hit to use on their channels, and Amazon will take an ever-increasing slice of the gaming pie.