Amazon tried for 15 years to defeat Steam. The former vice president of Prime Gaming now knows why they failed.
The cover image features Gabe Newell, the president of Valve, the company behind Steam.
Who is it about? The American Ethan Evans reports on the social network LinkedIn about Amazon’s fight against Valve and Steam. Evans was the vice president of Prime Gaming at Amazon, the gaming division of the company.
Overall, Evans worked for Amazon for over 15 years and claims to have built Prime Gaming alongside two colleagues (via LinkedIn).
There are various games on Steam, in addition to well-known AAA titles, you will also find interesting new releases from smaller studios:
“Gamers already had the solution to their problems”
What does Evans say about the fight against Steam? Evans recounts on LinkedIn that Amazon tried to beat Steam for more than 15 years.
- First, Amazon acquired a small game store, Reflexive Entertainment, and wanted to make it bigger.
- Then, after acquiring Twitch, they founded their own game store and thought players would automatically use it because they use Twitch.
- Lastly, Amazon introduced “Luna,” a streaming service for games to enable gaming without a high-end PC.
But despite being “at least 250 times larger” and trying everything, Evans explains that Goliath ultimately lost the fight against David.
The mistake was underestimating why gamers used Steam. Steam is not just a store, but also a social network, a library, and with Achievements, it also serves as a trophy cabinet. He says, “Gamers already had the solution to their problems” and they will not switch platforms just because a new one exists.
Amazon needed to offer something significantly better to persuade players to switch platforms, but failed to do so. Evans realized, “Just because you are big enough to create something doesn’t mean people will use it.”
Evans reflects that Amazon should have understood the customers, namely the gamers, before taking major steps.
What makes Steam so special for gamers? In recent years, many stores and launchers have tried to compete with Steam, but the platform remains the undisputed king. Players all have different reasons for staying with Steam, but as Evans recognized, the platform’s diversity plays a major role.
Steam offers a huge selection of games and allows gamers to simply scroll through the various categories of the store in search of new games and discover new titles – titles that are often not available on other launchers. Of course, as a PC gamer, you are also connected with your friends on Steam and see what games they are playing or wish for. And with Achievements, Steam provides an additional rewarding incentive for trophy hunters and gamers who want to complete all games.
Even for MeinMMO editor Benedikt Schlotmann, Steam is, despite various criticisms, the spearhead of gaming platforms. He has evaluated the various launchers and stores and ranked them: Steam, Epic, and Co ranked: Which gaming platform is the best in 2024?
