Introducing GameOn: Amazon’s new gaming platform

Amazon has just officially unveiled Amazon GameOn, which the tech giant is describing as a cross platform, competitive gaming platform for developers. What the GameOn service basically does is to allow developers to smoothly integrate competitions natively into their games (whether those games are designed for mobile devices, personal computers, or game consoles) by way of a suite of flexible application program interfaces (APIs).

Because Amazon’s new GameOn is developed based on its Amazon Web Service (AWS) cloud infrastructure and can work on any OS, it essentially grants developers the ability to scale more easily, at the same time, allowing game creators to focus more in what they do best, creating games that users can enjoy (sorry, productivity).

The arrival of Amazon GameOn is not only welcome news for developers, but also for casual consumers as well. As proven by the success of the HQ Trivia mobile app, games that promise real prizes can indeed take off with the masses. Through the use of GameOn, developers can now activate Amazon prizes into cross platform contests, that can work equally on smartphones, tablets, PCs, and consoles. From now until May 1st of this year, developers are allowed to use GameOn APIs, free of charge.

Quite strategically, Amazon has chosen to formally announce its GameOn platform along with various partners, which include Game Insight, nWay, Millennial Esports’ Eden Games, Mindstorm, Mokuni, Nazara, Umbrella Games, Avix and GameCloud Studios. On top of that, a couple of upcoming games will be looking to start the ball rolling -- Beach Buggy Racing 2 and a Doodle Jump game will be giving away Amazon prizes via GameOn.

Apparently, nWay has already begun integrating Amazon’s GameOn contests into Saban’s Power Rangers: Legacy Wars. Meanwhile, Millennial Esports’ Eden Games (responsible for bringing titles such as Test Drive Unlimited and V-Rally to life) is already taking full advantage of the platform in scaling the size of the competitions being run in Gear.Club. As for Game Insight, it is utilizing GameOn to give rewards to its community in Survival Arena.

As pointed out by Marja Koopmans, the director of Amazon Competitive Gaming, the set of APIs provided by the GameOn platform are specifically built to activate competitions by location. Moreover, Amazon log-ins are not needed, except when users have won prizes. And about those prizes -- they can either be real, or digital. As for real, physical prizes, they only apply to users based in the United States at the time being.