In January 2021, the question arose: “Amazon can build anything, but can they also develop a good video game?” However, after 2 bitter flops and further setbacks, Amazon Game Studios managed to achieve a great success with New World (Steam) now. The bosses at Amazon congratulate their teams on this coup.
This is how it has been for Amazon in the video game sector so far:
- Amazon has had a rough time when it comes to video games. The “Video Games” division was founded in 2012 and presented its first 3 games in 2015: New World, Breakaway, and Crucible. In 2019, a major MMORPG based on The Lord of the Rings was promised to fantasy fans.
- However, the development of Breakaway, a mix of Overwatch and Rocket League, was already halted in 2018. It just didn’t catch on. Although the hero shooter Crucible was released on Steam in 2020, it performed so poorly that the game was “un-released.”
- The major MMORPG based on “The Lord of the Rings” was also under a bad star: Due to licensing issues, the project was terminated in April 2021: The Chinese development partner was bought by Amazon competitor Tencent, who halted work on the MMORPG.
Still in January 2021, the business site “Bloomberg” headlined: Amazon can do anything except make a good video game? That seems to have been troubling the bosses at Amazon to this day.
But now, in October 2021, the tide has turned. Because by all standards, New World is a video game hit on Steam:
Bezos and Amazon CEO Show Satisfaction Over Success
This is how Amazon is reacting now: The founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, has expressed himself enthusiastically about the launch of New World in a series of tweets (via twitter). Bezos turns the success into a life lesson:
“After many setbacks and failures in gaming, we have a success. I am so proud of the team for their perseverance. Consider setbacks as valuable obstacles that promote learning. No matter what goals you have, do not give up on them, no matter how tough it gets.”
Jeff Bezos
The new CEO of Amazon, Andy Jassy, also exuberantly praised the success of New World at an event:
There have been many articles from people who wrote things like: “Amazon can build anything, but can they also build games?” – It takes a few [games] to find a hit, but they haven’t lost their confidence
Andy Jassy
According to Jassy, there will be some “games that spectacularly fail,” but he believes that video games “will become the largest entertainment category in the long run.”
At Amazon, they apparently seem to be having fun with New World and now feel great satisfaction that they built it for the skeptics. Amazon can build anything – including successful video games.
At least, it seems that way at the moment.
For more information on New World and the success of the game, we have it here for you:
New World will change how MMORPGs are developed in the future
