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There’s only about 300 million consoles and gaming PCs out there, so you don’t have to do heavy math to realise there’s a lot of people that love to play games, but are not necessarily playing in the highest fidelity environment on their TV or on their desktop computer. Netflix has been adding casual mobile games to its subscription service, while Peacock has introduced interactive titles based on franchises such as Law & Order and Jeopardy!. According to Ampere Analysis, consumers will spend around $700 million on pure-play cloud gaming services, such as Amazon Luna Premium, in 2025, which equates to around 0.3% of total global spend on games content and services.
Rather than positioning Luna as a direct competitor to traditional gaming consoles, Amazon says it is focusing on users who play games casually and may not own dedicated gaming hardware. Gattis explained the company’s approach, saying, “Your PlayStations, your Xboxes, your Steam and PC players tend to be really well served already. I might even argue over-served, where they’re largely just competing for the same pool of players and trying to take share from one another, and it’s a pool that’s really not growing in terms of console install base.” He added, “When we step back a little bit and just look at the overall gaming market, there’s three and a half billion people in the world who play video games. So that was where we started to see some real opportunity. ” Amazon said Luna has seen stronger engagement with games based on widely recognised franchises and titles that are easy for new players to pick up. “What we found is that big IP, familiar IP, approachable IP with relatively simple game mechanics are really resonating with our players. I think we’re finding a type of game that really resonates, and so we’re going to double down on that type of content,” Gattis explained. Gattis also indicated that Amazon plans to expand its catalogue with additional intellectual property, including titles based on MGM franchises. “Obviously, we’ll have the rights to the next [James] Bond game, if there is a sequel of the Bond franchise, there’s a bunch of MGM IP that we’re looking at right now. That’s a big part of making sure that we’ve got a really representative set of Amazon first-party content to complement the big third-party IPs that we’ll go out and license for the service,” he added. Amazon said the Games tab reflects its goal of expanding Prime Video beyond video streaming into a broader entertainment platform with interactive experiences. “I think there was this shared belief we had inside of Amazon that you need more on Prime Video, thinking of it more as an entertainment platform versus strictly a streaming video platform. Cloud gaming is still growing, but it’s still a pretty small segment compared to mobile, console and PC gaming, the research firm said. Get the latest technology news and updates.
Hogwarts Legacy has done incredibly well in the service. It’s a game that obviously everybody loves the IP, but it’s not a very complicated game to get into and start playing. Same thing I’d say for Indiana Jones, and we have Tomb Raider coming to Amazon and to the broader market in February, and so we’re excited about that. Going forward, though, what I get excited about, and we’re not quite there yet, but I think you’re going to start seeing a lot more: I’ll call them games or interactive experiences that are really designed to complement or extend engagement with video IP, so I’m excited about creating new types of video games that feel a little more experiential,” Gattis highlighted. The move comes as streaming platforms continue expanding into gaming. Download the TOI App.
The e-commerce giant has confirmed that games including Hogwarts Legacy, EA Sports FC 26, Clue and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire are already available through Prime Video’s Games tab. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Jeff Gattis, General Manager of Gaming at Amazon explained the move, and said, “Amazon’s been kind of ticking away at the gaming space for over a decade now, I think with varying degrees of success, but really has never established Amazon as a gaming platform, a destination where people come to play games. The company has introduced a dedicated Games tab that will allow Amazon Fire TV users access to Amazon Luna titles directly from Prime Video. Amazon is going the Netflix way by adding cloud gaming to its Prime Video streaming platform. From a business perspective, we’re just going to drive a ton more of discovery and awareness of this great benefit, and ideally at the end of the day, it’s getting more people playing video games. ” The new Games tab will appear alongside existing sections such as Movies, TV Shows, Live TV and Sports, making cloud gaming a built-in part of Prime Video for compatible Fire TV devices. The integration is powered by Amazon Luna, the company’s cloud gaming service.