Posted in: Games, GDC, Video Games | Tagged: amazon, GameOn, GDC

Amazon Announces Cloud-based Gaming Service 'GameOn' at GDC

At GDC today, Amazon announced GameOn- a cloud based, cross-platform, competitive gaming service for developers to easily integrate competitions into their games on mobile, PC, and console. GameOn uses a set of flexible APIs to help developers add esports competitions into games. GameOn is built on AWS cloud infrastructure and works on any operating system, giving developers the ability to scale quickly.

The entire point of Amazon's initiative is to give more developers the ability to cash in on the growing eSports market. Of course, by using GameOn, developers also get access to Amazon's massive resources for fulfilling in-game and real-world prizes for winners of the game competitions.

GameOn currently supports leaderboards, leagues, and multi-round competitions and gives developers the flexibility to create custom events such as local and regional competitions. Developers can also enable players and streamers to create their own user-generated competitions and invite participants, allowing players to connect with friends and expand their gaming network.

 GameOn is currently being used by nWay, game Insight, Millenial Esports' Eden Games, Umbrella Games, Nazara, Mindstorm, Mokuni, Avix, and GameCloud Studios.

Studio heads from all of the current GameOn partners offered statements to go alongside Amazon's announcement. You can read those below.

"Game developers have consistently told us they are looking for ways to increase player engagement and retention," said Marja Koopmans, Director, Amazon Competitive Gaming. "We built Amazon GameOn to give developers simple, yet powerful tools to foster community through competitive gameplay."

nWay, the developer of free-to-play mobile multiplayer games, started integrating Amazon GameOn competitions into Saban's Power Rangers: Legacy Wars. "We were particularly drawn to the real-world prizing aspect of GameOn. In-game tournaments drive player engagement, and prizing creates a stronger incentive for players to participate." said Jesse Cherry, Senior Product Lead, nWay.  "Administering real-world rewards is complex, and Amazon is a valuable partner who can make the logistics easy and seamless."

Millennial Esports' Eden Games, the developer behind some of the world's most successful racing franchises including V-Rally and Test Drive Unlimited, uses Amazon GameOn to scale the size of the competitions they run in Gear.Club. "GameOn has made it easy for us to add leaderboards and tournaments in-game," said Pascal Clarysse, CMO, Eden Games. "GameOn saved us months of development and a whole lot of maintenance and logistical overhead in the long run."

Game Insight, a leading global developer of cross-platform multiplayer games, is using Amazon GameOn to better reward their community in Survival Arena. "We're committed to growing the competitive gaming and esports community, and GameOn APIs give us an exciting new toolset to do this with," said Anatoly Ropotov, CEO, Game Insight. "We've already started using GameOn to provide our fans with real-world prizes and new types of tournaments that allow players to compete against each other across PC and mobile."

Amazon GameOn will be powering competitions in both Beach Buggy Racing 2 and a brand-new Doodle Jump title. In addition, new upcoming releases from Canvas Games, Superpower, PlaySide Studios, and Asmodee Digital will leverage GameOn technology to bring competitions to their fans.

Developers can use GameOn APIs for free until May 1, 2018. After that date, the first 35,000 plays per month are free for a limited time, then developers will pay $0.003 per play. Physical prizing fulfilled by Amazon will only be available in the U.S. at launch.

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