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[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Steam is no doubt the dominant force in game distribution, almost a monopoly, even though companies like Epic Games try to compete. Amazon's Prime Gaming also wished to overthrow Valve's platform, but it couldn't, and its VP, Ethan Evans, went to LinkedIn to share why this "Goliath," as he calls Amazon, couldn't find a working plan.

"As VP of Prime Gaming at Amazon, we failed multiple times to disrupt the game platform Steam. We were at least 250x bigger, and we tried everything. But ultimately, Goliath lost."

He says no one at Amazon "cracked the code" because they ultimately "underestimated what made consumers use Steam."

First, Amazon bought the Reflexive Entertainment PC game store and "tried to scale it," then it acquired Twitch and made its own marketplace: "Our assumption was that gamers would naturally buy from us because they were already using Twitch. Wrong."

Finally, the company built Luna, a Stadia-like streaming service that allowed people to play without a high-end PC. And we know where Stadia is now. "The whole time, Steam dominated despite being a relatively small company (compared to Amazon and Google)."

Steam was "a store, a social network, a library, and a trophy case all in one. And it worked well," Evans says.

Amazon, naively, I must add, assumed that its size and fame would be enough, but it "underestimated the power of existing user habits."

"We never validated our core assumptions before investing heavily in solutions. The truth is that gamers already had the solution to their problems, and they weren't going to switch platforms just because a new one was available."

Amazon had to make something better but couldn't. "And we needed to validate our assumptions about our customers before starting to build. But we never really did that either."

"Just because you are big enough to build something doesn’t mean people will use it," Evans concludes, and I can't agree more. Unfortunately, we often see big bosses failing to understand what simple people wish for, and this is why such decisions should be discussed with the audience, not the bigwigs who care about money and hardly even use the stuff they propose, I'm pretty sure.

"Reflecting on these mistakes, I realize how crucial it is to deeply understand customers before making big moves," Evans continues, referencing leadership coach James Birchler's guide on obtaining customer insights and using them:

1. Talk to real customers before writing code
2. Test assumptions, not just features
3. Build measurement into your process

Yes, I know what you think: it sounds like the most obvious thing ever, but I suppose it's not that clear from up there.

"I wish Amazon had followed James’ playbook before trying to take on Steam," Evans tells his LinkedIn audience. Well, at least he admits that this humbling situation, Amazon's worst assumption, happened.

VP of Prime Gaming: How "Goliath" Amazon Lost to Steam

"We never cracked the code."

80.lv

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

Speaking from painfully close experience, Amazon was absolutely never staffed competently for gaming. Never. In any gaming division. They insisted at every juncture on building and/or selling games the same way you would deal with selling vacuum cleaners and - *shock* - after 13+ years of it, it didn't work.

 

[Guilty_AI]

the funniest part is most didn't even realize they were trying

 

[Digital-Aftertaste]

They could have easily started up the subscription based system and dominated in that regard... In hindsight, its probably a good thing they didn't.

 

[BennyBlanco]

Is this why we’re stuck with EGS keys for the free games with Prime?

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

the funniest part is most didn't even realize they were trying

That was by design. They didn't want to be loud or boisterous in a way that traditionally resonates with gamers because... well, that's just not how Amazon operates in its other divisions.

 

[Magic Carpet]

the funniest part is most didn't even realize they were trying

It's only been recently following the free Epic Store thread that I even knew they were giving away games.

 

[Rentahamster]

we failed multiple times to disrupt the game platform Steam. We were at least 250x bigger, and we tried everything.

We tried everything? Like fuck they did lmfao. They don't know what made Steam successful because they don't know what video game players want, and they don't know that because they didn't bother to innovate or try to make a better product besides weakly copying what was already there.

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

We tried everything? Like fuck they did lmfao. They don't know what made Steam successful because they don't know what video game players want, and they don't know that because they didn't bother to innovate or try to make a better product besides weakly copying what was already there.

Seriously. Anyone remember Breakaway? That crappy pseudo-sports game that was basically a hodgepodge of every popular idea from like 3 years before it was actually slated to launch? The game they declared an "esport" before it had even come out?

Then they launched a trailer for it which got literally less than 700 views on Youtube, despite their vast marketing resources, and then shitcanned it. Frankly, I don't know what this "everything" they claimed to have tried is.

 

[moogman]

"simple people". Inadvertently describing how they perceived the general population. Maybe the starting point would have been to change that view.

 

[JimboJones]

the funniest part is most didn't even realize they were trying

This, I get "free" games from Amazon prime and they did have their own launcher (think they still do but they give away gog and epic stuff mostly now) but I thought It was just a purely prime perk.

 

[Ogbert]

Fuck off Amazon.

 

[Bry0]

The only thing that worries me about valve is what happens when Gabe is gone.
Listen to any interview he does and the thing you constantly hear him repeat when talking about valves decision making is what their customers think.
They aren’t perfect, no, but they’ve built out a top tier platform by listening and responding to their customers.
“Talk to real customers before writing code” should definitely have been the first move.

 

[namenotfound]

The linkedin post

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ethanevansvp_as-vp-of-prime-gaming-at-amazon-we-failed-activity-7295834479036702720-cDmX/

This stretch was pretty golden. Like good thing you're retired because anyone reading this should think to never hire this person in any level of management because how did you not think to understand why Steam was successful and not try to understand what customers would want before trying to sell them a product

The mistake was that we underestimated what made consumers use Steam. It was a store, a social network, a library, and a trophy case all in one. And it worked well. At Amazon, we assumed that size and visibility would be enough to attract customers, but we underestimated the power of existing user habits. We never validated our core assumptions before investing heavily in solutions. The truth is that gamers already had the solution to their problems, and they weren't going to switch platforms just because a new one was available. We needed to build something dramatically better, but we failed to do so. And we needed to validate our assumptions about our customers before starting to build. But we never really did that either.Just because you are big enough to build something doesn’t mean people will use it. Reflecting on these mistakes, I realize how crucial it is to deeply understand customers before making big moves. That’s why James Birchler’s guest newsletter caught my attention—his piece is a practical guide on obtaining real customer insights and using them to challenge entrenched assumptions that can hurt product success.

And just as others said, never knew they were actually trying to compete with Steam. I remember being able to buy games off Amazon like it was Direct2Drive back in the day where you just downloaded an installer package let it do it's thing. Even now that Amazon launcher for all these Amazon Prime games is barebones. Like 2005 Steam level of barebones

 

[MSduderino]

We tried everything? Like fuck they did lmfao. They don't know what made Steam successful because they don't know what video game players want, and they don't know that because they didn't bother to innovate or try to make a better product besides weakly copying what was already there.

Right!? Terrible retrospective from someone who doesn't want to admit any fuck ups. Amazon was never a "goliath" for gaming specifically other than a place to order physical releases. Seems they misjudged Steam as a "David" when Steam has been a Goliath for over 20 years. I know Valve is a small fraction of the size of most multinational corps but it seems many execs dismiss Steam's dominance.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Amazon would have banned games on their store if they were the king fish.

 

[poppabk]

I reccomend that all new services should give out free games left and right to bring in new users. Won't work but I like free games.

 

[flying_sq]

Is this why we’re stuck with EGS keys for the free games with Prime?

Also GOG

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

Tourists who believe that players are monkeys and throwing in enough money would do the trick.

I can't believe the idiocy of these executives.

 

[Gp1]

EA "EA, orgin, exclusive BF, The sims etc" failed
Ubisoft "Uplay or whatever shit the called it now" failed
Blizzard "Destiny/CoD/Battlenet" failed
Epic "EGS/fucking Fortine" failed
Google "Stadia" failed
Microsoft "15 years of experience to do walled garden store in PC/shitty MS Store"
Sony "mandatory PSN on Steam" failed

Amazon executive: "Yep I think we have a niche to explore here against the most effective company in the entire world".

 

[Yerd]

The only thing that worries me about valve is what happens when Gabe is gone.
Listen to any interview he does and the thing you constantly hear him repeat when talking about valves decision making is what their customers think.
They aren’t perfect, no, but they’ve built out a top tier platform by listening and responding to their customers.
“Talk to real customers before writing code” should definitely have been the first move.

Unless he has some plan for his successor, I suspect it will coast for a while. Not hard to keep doing what it's doing. Not like they change much, ever.

I reccomend that all new services should give out free games left and right to bring in new users. Won't work but I like free games.

Big discounts. That's how you compete. Who doesn't like saving MORE money. Just offer the game cheaper than everyone else and offer most of the shit steam has, like achievements and social features. It won't be over night success, but you are going to attract most customers that way.

 

[Sentenza]

Also GOG

The Prime offering is currently a weird mixture of games that activate either on GoG, EGS and on the Amazon client.
But yeah, it was clear by the fact that they never released a single Steam key how that was the market they were aiming to erode over time.

With very little success, as they are even openly admitting here.

 

[Yerd]

The Prime offering is currently a weird mixture of games that activate either on GoG, EGS and on the Amazon client.
But yeah, it was clear by the fact that they never released a single Steam key how that was the market they were aiming to erode over time.

With very little success, as they are even openly admitting here.

They used to be mainly steam keys

 

[Coolade]

Copy every steam feature (steam input, overlay guides etc) make your games DRM free like GoG to grant true ownership AND subsidize discounts. If you’re not willing to do that then don’t even try. You won’t make a dent.

 

[Fermbiz]

These mother fuckers, Amazon, scooped up Double Helix. Double Helix are the developers of the awesome 2013 version of Killer Instinct Now they are non-existent...

 

[Cert.in.Death]

The Twitch subsidy isn't going to last.
The user experience there is god awful, from a viewing audience perspective.

 

[Hari Seldon]

Amazon turned into IBM faster than IBM turned into IBM. They can't sell digital goods, any digital goods, better than steam... let alone games. They lucksacked into AWS or they would be a penny stock after Temu is taking them to the woodshed.

 

[tusharngf]

Ask Microsoft they left pc market for xbox. They could have launched a good store but no they launched games for windows lol. Steam delivered on every single front. I have 100 odd games on xbox live store and 30 on psn but still i chose to play on steam. Its all about backward compatibility plus tons of features, discounts which only steam can provide.

 

[Sentenza]

They used to be mainly steam keys

On Prime? Can't remember a single one.

 

[Agent X]

On Prime? Can't remember a single one.

I remember obtaining Steam keys for a few games very early in the Prime Gaming program. There weren't very many Steam games; I'd say there were less than ten.

 

[Gp1]

Copy every steam feature (steam input, overlay guides etc) make your games DRM free like GoG to grant true ownership AND subsidize discounts. If you’re not willing to do that then don’t even try. You won’t make a dent.

And besides that try to develop, subsidize or attract developers for 5 or 6 of the most played and fair free 2 play games in the entire industry.

I know a truckload of users that only log on steam to play Counter strike, Dota 2, Deadlock, PUBG, etc.

 

[ThisIsMyDog]

Perfect meme for this

 

[Sentenza]

I remember obtaining Steam keys for a few games very early in the Prime Gaming program. There weren't very many Steam games; I'd say there were less than ten.

The only Steam keys I remember obtaining from Amazon are the ones they used to sell for a certain time, similarly to what a lot of key resellers do.
I don't remember a single one of their Prime "freebies" coming with a Steam key attached, but then again maybe it's just my memory failing me.

 

[Shubh_C63]

Blizzard "Destiny/CoD/Battlenet" failed

Did it failed ?
battlenet is around the same age as Steam I think and Starcraft 2 works alright I guess. I did heard CoD install fiasco though.

Amazon turned into IBM faster than IBM turned into IBM. They can't sell digital goods, any digital goods, better than steam... let alone games. They lucksacked into AWS or they would be a penny stock after Temu is taking them to the woodshed.

Edit- I realised later you were talking about Amazon Storefront capabilities rather than Amazon game making capabilities.

Amazon's games definitely is not up our alley but did they fail at making money from games ?
New World, after 2-3 big updates is now sitting at the same player count as Path of Exile-1 (f2p) and peaks at 60K once an year with the expansion.
Throne & Liberty, Top 70 most played game on Steam with CCU 34K and all time peak of 336K. Wow!
Lost Ark, Same as T&L numbers with all time peak of 1.3M. Wow!! It literally was the biggest thing ever when it launched.

They have a driving open world game, Tomb Raider(?) and Lord of the Rings MMO in the making. They definitely know how to grab eyeballs.

 

[Gp1]

Did it failed ?
battlenet is around the same age as Steam I think and Starcraft 2 works alright I guess. I did heard CoD install fiasco though.

Battlenet is older than Steam as infrastructure. When Activision took over they tried to make bnet an alternative to Steam. Exclusivity "deal" on CoD, Destiny, etc.

Now the only games that are exclusive to battle.net are the legacy ones that depends on the Battlenet infrastructure to work (SC1r-2, D3, War3, D2r, WoW, etc) and even that is changing with Diablo 4 e.g.

 

[Soodanim]

It's a strong lesson that businesses just don't see to want to learn.

Steam, for all its faults and flaws, consistently provides what people actually want - features to enhance the experience and justify the launcher's existence. I know what Steam does when I have it open, and I'm happy to have it there. Steam wins by being the best, that's all their is to it. Money can't buy that.
GOG is an optional launcher to accompany a store that has a mostly different business model and market to Steam's. They earned their place in the market doing their own thing and doing it well.

EGS seems to be the closest because they were content to moneyhat free games for years without pause, and what do they have? Presumably still a crap resource hog of a launcher that no one buys from unless they absolutely have to. I wouldn't know - I still won't install that despite all the free games pushed at me. In the past and today through Prime.
Battlenet and Rockstar's launcher exist solely for franchises so big that people begrudgingly install whatever it takes to get into their favourite franchise.

Earning their place in the market is what none of the other piss-poor attempts at stores and launchers have done. They all exist to be a detriment to the user in the vain hope that it helps further the business running it. The last thing I want to do is sound like one of those "We the gamers" master race cringelords, but the fact of the matter is that the PC market is a little more discerning because we have choice. It's so easy for me to completely ignore every launcher that isn't Steam or GOG.

It's baffling that these companies just don't get any of this. Like it's rocket science. Amazon could have spoken to any half-sane Steam customer for half an hour and they'd have learned more for the price of lunch than they did through 13 years of expensive failures.

 

[PeteBull]

Perfect meme for this

 

[BennyBlanco]

The only Steam keys I remember obtaining from Amazon are the ones they used to sell for a certain time, similarly to what a lot of key resellers do.
I don't remember a single one of their Prime "freebies" coming with a Steam key attached, but then again maybe it's just my memory failing me.

There used to be a single guy named Tony who worked at Amazon that used to make bundles of Steam keys that were crazy good. He posted on CAG all the time and here (until he was banned). That guy quit I guess and they completely abandoned the initiative. This was like the early days of humble bundle and before all the other key resellers got big. What a huge missed opportunity because places like Fanatical and GMG are very successful businesses at this point.

I wonder whatever happened to Tony. He was a man on a mission. Used to price match Steam on Amazon too.

 

[Grildon Tundy]

One sad day, when Gabe passes, Valve becomes publicly-traded and beholden to shareholders, and the screwing over of the customer base begins, THEN I might look to other storefronts primarily. But today is not that day.