This summary of the video was created by an AI. It might contain some inaccuracies.
00:00:00 – 00:27:40
The video provides an extensive overview of Amazon's turbulent entry into the gaming industry. It starts with Amazon recognizing the profitable, though often flawed, models of major gaming companies like Ubisoft, EA, Rockstar, and Bethesda, prompting Amazon to form Amazon Game Studios after acquiring Twitch in 2014. They hired prominent developers like Kim Swift, Clint Hocking, and Tom Leonard, and aimed to create niche games, but their early mobile games flopped.
Their ambitious strategy, led by Mike Frazzini—an executive with no gaming experience—was hampered by chaotic management, leading to key developers leaving. Amazon invested in developing its own game engine, Lumberyard, from CryEngine, which caused significant delays due to its complexity and developers' inexperience with it.
Despite these obstacles, Amazon announced new projects at TwitchCon 2016, including "Breakaway," "Crucible," and "New World." "Breakaway," despite initial hype, was eventually canceled. "Crucible" faced multiple development issues and was released to poor reviews, suffering a drastic player drop-off and was eventually retracted.
"New World" initially showed promise, transitioning from PVP to PVE with a substantial closed beta in July 2021 that led to server overloads due to high traffic. Despite reaching nearly 900,000 concurrent players and topping SteamCharts, it faced criticism for its content and storyline. The initial success waned due to bugs and player attrition.
The video concludes with the game’s decline and mentions the departure of Mike Frazzini from Amazon Games, marking a significant moment in Amazon's gaming saga.
00:00:00
In this part of the video, the narrator discusses the dominance of major gaming companies like Ubisoft, EA, Rockstar, and Bethesda, which profited despite mistreating customers through bugs, microtransactions, and delayed sequels. Amazon observed this and decided to enter the gaming industry. The video describes Amazon’s heist-style approach, leveraging their existing successes in various markets and underpaying workers. Amazon launched its first game, Living Classics, in 2012, which was unsuccessful. Realizing the effort required for game development, Amazon acquired Twitch in 2014 and formed Amazon Game Studios, gathering a talented team to pursue their new gaming ambitions.
00:03:00
In this part of the video, Amazon Game Studios recruited renowned developers, including Kim Swift of Portal, Clint Hocking from Far Cry 2, Tom Leonard of Left 4 Dead 2, and several System Shock developers. Mike Frazzini, with no experience in game development but persistent lobbying, led the studio as vice president. Amazon also acquired Double Helix Games, best known for Battleship, to strengthen their team. The strategy involved splitting the studio into smaller teams, each working on games within a year, aiming to fill a market niche without challenging major titles like Call of Duty. They planned to develop a variety of games, including Minecraft clones, episodic adventures like The Walking Dead, and mobile-based puzzle games. Despite ambitious aspirations, they initially focused on creating mobile games to gain experience before tackling larger projects.
00:06:00
In this part of the video, the narrator discusses the chaotic operations at Amazon Games, highlighting their release of obscure titles that quickly faded into obscurity and failed to improve the reputation of Amazon Games and the Amazon app store. Notable game developers like Clint Hocking and Kim Swift left the company due to a lack of game releases and poor management by Mike Frazzini, who reportedly lacked both business and gaming knowledge. Despite Amazon Games’ struggles, they continued to aim for success and announced the development of three new games—Breakaway, Crucible, and New World—during the September 2016 TwitchCon, positioning them as a departure from their previous, less successful mobile games.
00:09:00
In this part of the video, the discussion focuses on Amazon’s effort to develop its own game engine, Lumberyard, after purchasing a CryEngine license from Crytek for $70 million. Despite CryEngine’s proven success, Amazon, valuing in-house development, decided to create its own engine rather than using CryEngine directly. This led to Lumberyard, which, although unique to Amazon, was less user-friendly. Development was further complicated as Amazon developers, often inexperienced with Lumberyard, had to adapt mid-project. This resulted in major delays, with the new engine slowing down progress by 50%, and developers often idling while waiting for the engine to process tasks.
00:12:00
In this part of the video, the narrator discusses Amazon’s initial struggles and efforts in the gaming industry. Amazon initially assembled a team with some relevant experience and obtained a game engine. They announced their first game, “Breakaway,” at TwitchCon 2016, which was touted to include fast action, competition, and team play. However, development was exceedingly slow. Despite Amazon’s hopes, “Breakaway” was only seen in a few trailers and internal matches held by Amazon employees. Eventually, the game was quietly canceled in March 2018. Nevertheless, this wasn’t the end of Amazon’s gaming pursuits as they continued to develop other titles like “Crucible” and “New World,” and brought in Christoph Hartmann from 2K Games to aid their development. The segment also hints at a secret project that was under the radar.
00:15:00
In this segment of the video, the focus is on Amazon’s ill-fated ventures into the gaming industry, specifically discussing “The Grand Tour Game” and “Crucible.” “The Grand Tour Game” combines elements of the Amazon Prime show with a free-to-play mobile game aesthetic. Despite its launch, it received negative reviews and was removed from sale in June 2020 after just a year and a half. Amazon redirected resources to “Crucible,” a game that underwent significant changes during its four-year development, shifting from a battle royale to a hero shooter. The development process was hindered by the Lumberyard engine’s incompatibility with online play and internal challenges within Amazon Games. Developer Stephen Dewhurst expressed frustration over these difficulties in an interview, highlighting the restrictive environment.
00:18:00
In this part of the video, the presenter discusses the struggles Amazon faced with its game, Crucible. The company was criticized for stifling employee development and not promoting new skills. Crucible was released as a beta, but it received poor reviews for lacking teamwork and being unoptimized. The lack of interest was evident as the player count dwindled from 25,000 at launch to just three within two weeks, leading Amazon to pull the game from release. This failure marked a significant setback, but Amazon hoped to redeem itself with its next project, the MMO game New World.
00:21:00
In this part of the video, the focus is on the development struggles and identity crisis of Amazon’s game “New World.” Initially, New World was designed with a unique classless leveling system and went through several changes in its design and payment model. After the cancellation of other projects, New World benefited from the combined efforts of three development teams. However, Amazon’s management approach led to chaotic team assignments, resulting in mismatched roles. New World transitioned from a PVP-focused, free-to-play game to a PVE-focused game with a $40 price tag. The first public experience came in a closed beta in July 2021, which was exclusive to 200,000 players. Despite being a functional game, it had a critical issue: the absence of frame rate limiters in its menu screens, causing certain EVGA GPUs to fail when handling the extreme frame rates.
00:24:00
In this segment of the video, various issues with an audio bug and accidental bans are discussed, highlighting frustrations and delays. Despite these problems, the video shifts focus to positive aspects of the game “New World.” It notes that the game surpassed previous Amazon games by reaching beta and launching successfully. The game’s popularity surged, topping SteamCharts, and reaching around 900,000 concurrent players. However, this success led to server issues due to high traffic. The segment acknowledges mixed reviews, pointing out criticism for its PVE content and storyline, yet emphasizes its initial success and impact on the market.
00:27:00
In this part of the video, the focus is on the decline of the MMO, New World, which experienced a significant loss of players and struggled to compete with other offerings. Despite its initial success bringing joy to executives like Bezos and Frazzini, the video notes a less than happy ending for the game. In a surprising twist, it reveals that Amazon Games chief Mike Frazzini is leaving the company, humorously suggesting he’ll now have plenty of time to play RBI Baseball.