Amazon gaming boss predicts future where players no longer need consoles - BBC

What the report says

BBC News reports that Amazon’s head of gaming, Jeff Gattis, expects more players to use cloud streaming as gaming hardware becomes costlier. Cloud gaming lets users play titles from remote servers on devices such as phones, tablets or TVs, rather than relying on a console or gaming PC. Gattis said the technology has improved enough to become a more practical option, though he acknowledged some players will continue to prefer dedicated machines.

The comments came as Amazon announced that Luna, its cloud gaming service, will be added to the Prime Video app under a “Games” tab on Fire TVs in the US and UK. Luna is already part of Amazon Prime, but the move places it beside films and shows rather than keeping it as a separate destination. Gattis told the BBC that billions of people play games worldwide, while only a smaller share own specialist gaming hardware, suggesting Amazon sees a wider audience beyond traditional console users.

The BBC noted that cloud gaming has been promoted for years but has struggled to become mainstream. Google closed Stadia in 2023 after it failed to attract enough users, and services from Sony and Microsoft also compete in the space. Industry commentator Christopher Dring said there may be demand from people interested in major high-end games but discouraged by technical requirements, while also pointing to barriers such as controller needs and publishers’ concerns about subscription economics.

The report also cited NYU Stern professor Joost van Dreunen, who said latency, uneven performance and business model issues have held the sector back. He suggested rising console prices may encourage gradual interest in alternatives, but not an immediate mass shift.