Amazon.com Inc. ended development of its first big-budget video game Crucible, highlighting the online retailer’s continued struggle to make headway in the industry.
“We didn’t see a healthy, sustainable future ahead of Crucible,” the company said in a blog post on Friday. The team working on the project will be moved to other upcoming games and customers will get refunds, it added.
Crucible was seen as a key test for Amazon’s games division, which was formed in 2012. The game’s launch in May was a disaster, with negative reviews. A month later, Amazon made the game an invite-only closed beta. Before releasing Crucible, the company had already canceled a previously announced game and cut some jobs in the games unit.
“This has been a labor of love, and we’re grateful for the time we got to spend on planet Crucible with you,” Amazon wrote in the blog.
The Crucible development team will now focus on another original game called New World. Amazon earlier this year said it would release New World in August, but later pushed back the release to spring 2021.
Developing original games is one piece of Amazon’s strategy to break into video games. The company bought Twitch, the live-streaming service dominated by gamers, in 2014. In September, Amazon unveiled Luna, a subscription video game streaming service that will allow gamers to play without expensive hardware like consoles.
Dear Reader,
Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.
We, however, have a request.
As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.
Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.
Digital Editor
Credit: www.business-standard.com