Amazon is reportedly working on a cloud-gaming service code-named Project Tempo, but it may be delayed until 2021 due to disruptions caused by the coronavirus outbreak, officially known as COVID-19.
After the retailer’s successful entry into home entertainment with Fire TV and Prime Video, Amazon is now preparing to push into the gaming scene, according to the New York Times. Project Tempo is just part of the company’s plans for the industry in which it is investing “hundreds of millions of dollars,” the report said.
“The big picture is about trying to take the best of Amazon and bring it to games,” Mike Frazzini, Amazon’s vice president of games services and studios, told the Times. “We have been working for a while, but it takes a long time to make games, and we’re bringing a lot of Amazon practices to making games.”
Not much is known about Project Tempo, including technical specifications, the devices or games that it will support, the internet speed that it will require, or its subscription price. It will be going up against Google Stadia and the upcoming Microsoft Project xCloud, with Project Tempo expected to run on the same premise as other similar services: Players streaming games to their devices from the servers of Google, Microsoft, or Amazon.
Amazon, however, is apparently not yet ready to reveal its cloud-gaming service. Sources told the New York Times that Amazon hoped to launch an early version of Project Tempo this year, but its release may be pushed back because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The launch of Project Tempo is not the only part of Amazon’s gaming plans to have been affected by the coronavirus outbreak. Amazon’s team-based combat game Crucible, which was supposed to be revealed in early February and released on March 31, will instead be rolled out in May, the Times reported.
Also set to launch next month is New World, Amazon’s fantasy MMO based on an alternate 17th century. Crucible and New World were both announced in 2016 alongside the now-canceled four-on-four brawler Breakaway.
Amazon is also planning to introduce interactive games on its video streaming service, Twitch, over the summer, according to the Times.
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