4 ms·

I haven't even heard of the divisions people were laid off from. Does anyone have any background information about what these groups were attempting to accompli

I haven't even heard of the divisions people were laid off from. Does anyone have any background information about what these groups were attempting to accomplish?

frabcus 3y ago
Not sure, but I remember clearly this Simon Wardley (of Wardley mapping) blogpost from 2016, which thinks Amazon's Lumberyard will kill Unity and Unreal (amongst others) by doing their normal Amazon play for game development. https://blog.gardeviance.org/2016/02/what-to-do-about-amazon-and-gaming.html https://blog.gardeviance.org/2016/02/what-to-do-about-amazon... That didn't happen - these predictions and strategies don't always work.
- upon_drumhead 3y ago
  I feel that Amazon absolutely was positioned to do exactly that, but rather then have the focus and the will to make a real engine, they pivoted to a minimum viable product for a entirely run of the mill game and then was surprised when AAA studios weren't impressed with their big talk about the future. If they would have held the initial course and built a world class engine, this could have actually changed the world. But Amazon doesn't have the backbone anymore. They're afraid of making and sticking with the big bets. In a decade, I don't know that Amazon will be seen any differently then Google is today.
- caffeinewriter 3y ago
  Tangentially related, I just recently found out that Lumberyard actually was spun out[1] into the open source Open 3D Engine[2] under the stewardship of the Linux Foundation. It's a nice surprise to see that Lumberyard didn't just die out, and is joining the ranks of open-source engines. [1]: https://web.archive.org/web/20220614090421/https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/gametech/open-3d-engine/ https://web.archive.org/web/20220614090421/https://aws.amazo... [2]: https://o3de.org/ https://o3de.org/
rileyphone 3y ago
Prime Gaming was primarily providing in-game content for Prime members in games like GTA 5, as well as monthly free games. There were efforts to turn it in to a publishing arm like Netflix is doing but as far as I know they have been shuttered.

I haven't even heard of the divisions people were laid off from. Does anyone have any background information about what these groups were attempting to accomplish?

frabcus 3y ago

Not sure, but I remember clearly this Simon Wardley (of Wardley mapping) blogpost from 2016, which thinks Amazon's Lumberyard will kill Unity and Unreal (amongst others) by doing their normal Amazon play for game development. https://blog.gardeviance.org/2016/02/what-to-do-about-amazon-and-gaming.html https://blog.gardeviance.org/2016/02/what-to-do-about-amazon... That didn't happen - these predictions and strategies don't always work.

upon_drumhead 3y ago
I feel that Amazon absolutely was positioned to do exactly that, but rather then have the focus and the will to make a real engine, they pivoted to a minimum viable product for a entirely run of the mill game and then was surprised when AAA studios weren't impressed with their big talk about the future. If they would have held the initial course and built a world class engine, this could have actually changed the world. But Amazon doesn't have the backbone anymore. They're afraid of making and sticking with the big bets. In a decade, I don't know that Amazon will be seen any differently then Google is today.
caffeinewriter 3y ago
Tangentially related, I just recently found out that Lumberyard actually was spun out[1] into the open source Open 3D Engine[2] under the stewardship of the Linux Foundation. It's a nice surprise to see that Lumberyard didn't just die out, and is joining the ranks of open-source engines. [1]: https://web.archive.org/web/20220614090421/https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/gametech/open-3d-engine/ https://web.archive.org/web/20220614090421/https://aws.amazo... [2]: https://o3de.org/ https://o3de.org/

rileyphone 3y ago

Prime Gaming was primarily providing in-game content for Prime members in games like GTA 5, as well as monthly free games. There were efforts to turn it in to a publishing arm like Netflix is doing but as far as I know they have been shuttered.