Amazon could be a huge threat to the gaming industry - Yahoo Money

Amazon (AMZN) is officially a gaming company, and that should worry industry mainstays like Nintendo (NTDOY), Microsoft (MSFT), and Sony (SNE), as well as newcomers like Google (GOOG, GOOGL).

Amazon has been providing gaming content via its online store and its mega-popular Twitch streaming platform, but on Wednesday, the company launched its first big-budget title, a free-to-play game called “Crucible.”.

Amazon will follow that up with another game later this summer called “New World,” and all of that is seemingly leading to the tech titan’s launch of a cloud gaming service called Project Tempo. .

The game, which is a hybrid of some of the most recognizable online games available, including Riot’s incredibly popular “League of Legends” and Activision Blizzard’s (ATVI) “Overwatch,” is the first AAA title from Amazon Games’ Seattle-based Relentless Studios.

The company is also developing a massively-multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) called “New World,” which will make its debut in August.

While Amazon’s game studios could prove to be a major contender in the industry, the company’s biggest threat to the industry comes in the form of its cloud gaming platform, Project Tempo.

Google’s platform also seemed rushed out the door in an effort to make the company the first to market in the cloud gaming industry.

Microsoft is the second largest player in the cloud space, and it’s actively working on its own cloud gaming platform called Project X Cloud.

That service, when paired with Microsoft’s existing Xbox Game Pass, which gives gamers access to more than 100 games for a single monthly fee, will prove to be an incredibly appealing offer.

Microsoft also has the gaming pedigree, game catalogue, industry relationships and name recognition that give X Cloud the kind of boost that it would need to become a successful gaming platform.