作者：Jon Jordan

亚马逊就像一个缓慢移动的冰墙，从高大的电子商务之山滚落下来，并朝着不安分的游戏海洋飘移。

所以今天我们将询问一些专家对于如此迟钝的亚马逊能否赢得竞赛的看法。

或者更详细地说来，是否有人会关心亚马逊作为一大游戏平台，而它是否有机会能够与苹果和谷歌相抗衡？

作为设计师/企业家的Scott Foe

关于亚马逊，我们讨论的是哪个实体拥有能够与全球游戏业务价值相抗衡的市值。

如果亚马逊积攒了所有的游戏努力，将这些努力投入到自身的损益结构和组织过程与实践中，并提供了足够的投资，那么未决的问题便会变为：

“他们是否具有足够的人才能够推动这一引擎？”

你需要调动自己的军队去战争：

“嘿，亚马逊，你的军队在哪里？”

MAQL Europe的Harry Holmwood

他们是值得重视的佼佼者。他们已经拥有电子书空间以及实体产品的在线销售渠道。

我想比起其他人，更多游戏将能够更有效地运行于他们的云端。Kindle Fire应该是最畅销的Android平板电脑（游戏邦注：据说它在美国拥有59%的市场占有率）。

似乎有关你运行于谁家产的硬件已经不再是多大的问题了。

关于游戏“平台”的整体概念正在趋向多余，即几乎所有游戏都可以基于任何安装基础而出现在所有平台上，各种工具也推动着这种发展。

作为顾问/传播者的Oscar Clark

亚马逊未在这一领域做出更多行动这一点着实让我感到惊讶。

他们已经拥有任何在网上购买东西的用户的信用卡信息，但是他们却未曾进一步去挖掘更大的商业利益。

为什么我会因此感到疑惑呢？

我想亚马逊坚持着实体零售业务的行为便代表着他们将游戏当成是第二市场（或者是第三市场）。他们可以在Lovefilm/Kindle市场上通过智能设备获取利益，并避免实体书店零售衰败的危险。

但是Harry也说过，比起其它工具，更多服务正在使用他们的EC2基础设施。可以看出云端服务方法是亚马逊带给这个世界的最大改变。

amazon-web-services-logo（from pocketgamer）

亚马逊已经在这个领域取得了很大的发展，并在规模和信任度上占据着主要的品牌地位。随着下一代主机继续朝着云端服务转变，亚马逊作为一个游戏平台的潜力将越发明显。

也许到那时候我们所面对的真正问题应该是，苹果和谷歌是否准备好与之相对抗了？

（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Amazon has the opportunity, but does it have the army or the desire to win the gaming war?

by Jon Jordan

Like a massive glacier, Amazon is a slow-moving wall of ice that’s rolling down from the high hill of ecommerce towards the ever-restless ocean of gaming.

So, this week we asked our Mavens – Can the Amazon tortoise win the race?

Or, more specifically

Does anyone care about Amazon as a platform for games, and does it have any chance of competing with Apple and Google etc?

Scott Foe, designer/entrepreneur [@scottfoe]

In Amazon, we are discussing an entity whose own market capitalization rivals the value of the global games business.

If Amazon silos its gaming efforts, holding those efforts accountable to its own profit & loss structures and organizational processes and practices, providing sufficient investment within those silos, the outstanding question becomes…

“Is there talent enough to drive that engine?”

You go to war with the army you have:

“Hey, Amazon, where your army at?”

Harry Holmwood, MAQL Europe [@Hholmwood]

They’re absolutely a credible player to be taken seriously. They own the eBook space already and pretty much own online shopping for physical goods.

I would guess more games are running on their cloud than anyone else’s. I _think_ the Kindle Fire is the bestselling Android tablet already where it’s sold (I read it was 59 percent market share in USA).

Increasingly, though, it seems like it’s starting to matter less and less who’s hardware you’re running on.

The whole idea of a ‘platform’ for games is becoming a bit redundant, as pretty much all games will end up on all platforms with any significant installed base, and the tools to facilitate that are great.

Oscar Clark, consultant/evangelist [@Athanateus]

Amazon have surprised me that they haven’t done more in this space yet.

They essentially already have the credit card details for anyone who used the internet to buy anything and yet they haven’t been as aggressive about building their commercial reach as I would have expected.

Why does this confuse me?

I suspect that their commitment to the physical retail business means that they see this [gaming] as a secondary (or even tertiary) market. They can reap the benefits of smart devices for their Lovefilm/Kindle markets and off set the risks of the demise of physical book retail.

But as Harry has said more games services use their EC2 infrastructure than any other. Arguably their cloud service approach is the biggest world-changing transition that Amazon have contributed.

Amazon do have completion in this area, but are quietly holding a prime brand position in terms of scale and trust. As the next-gen consoles continue their transition to cloud services, Amazon’s reach and potential as a gaming platform will become just a little more obvious.

Perhaps the real question is whether Apple and Google ready for that fight when it comes?

You can read what PocketGamer.biz editor-at-large Jon Jordan thinks about Amazon in the opinion piece: Unconsoled or not, Amazon’s momentum in the games market remains relentless.(source:pocketgamer)