Amazon’s new gaming plan: James Bond and AI Snoop Dogg

Amazon’s gaming strategy has never been clear. It has been very active in space: Get TwitchLaunching the Luna cloud gaming service Nearly six years agoinvesting heavily in MMOs during the height of the streaming service wave, and getting a huge roster of franchises through Prime Video and MGM Studios Library. Late last year, the company announced a major pivot: a relaunch Luna with a focus on party games You can play using just your phone as a controller — including an AI-powered game starring Snoop Dogg as a referee — and basically Jump ship on MMO games.

At the time, it seemed like a decline, but Amazon says that’s not the case. “The truth is nothing could be further from the truth, but we haven’t really come out and said that,” said Jeff Gattis, general manager of Amazon Games. Edge. While the company says it has a new, more focused strategy, its gaming efforts are still spread across several different pillars.

Part of this new focus comes from structural change, as the company now has what it believes is a simpler approach. “Luna is our gaming platform, and Amazon Game Studios is our development and publishing platform,” says Gattis. He admits it’s not all that different from the approach at Xbox, which has an Xbox console division and Xbox Game Studios. Given Amazon’s move toward cloud-streamed multiplayer games that you can only play on a phone, Gatiss recognizes similarities to Netflix’s strategy as well — which It also had its twists and turns. Until recently, Amazon tried to go after “core” gamers, but Gattis says that part of the market is “well served” by things like PlayStation, Xbox and Steam. Amazon isn’t abandoning this group, but it also sees an opportunity to attract a more casual audience.

Gattis joined Amazon in March 2025 after many years as an Xbox executive. Gattis says he came to Amazon because he saw a lot of opportunity. “I personally fail to accept the fact that Amazon, as one of the largest consumer entertainment companies in the world, cannot break into the number one revenue segment in consumer entertainment,” he says. Since he joined, Amazon has consolidated its three separate gaming groups — Prime Gaming, Amazon Game Studios, and Luna — into one organization. “None of these groups were working with each other,” Gattis says.

As for Luna, a selection of games are included in the Amazon Prime subscription (including GameNite party games) and you can pay $9.99 per month for Luna Premium, which has a larger selection of titles. As for Amazon Game Studios, the biggest known game in development is the remake Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis and Tomb Raider: Catalysta new entry in the series. Both are currently scheduled to launch in 2027. Amazon’s involvement in gaming extends to Live action Tomb Raider View for Prime Video championship Sophie Turner as Lara Croft.

Amazon’s bet is on put Tomb Raider Everywhere – there are also a few titles available through Luna – indicates the direction the company sees things going. “We really believe that this line between television and video games is increasingly getting closer,” says Gattis, so that “I think every major IP should have a video game story” as part of its go-to-market strategy. He also points to Amazon’s rights deals with sports leagues like the NBA and NFL, saying there are “all kinds” of “companion games” it could offer.

Now that Amazon has it Creative control of James BondThis seems like another clear concession for the company to build more games, especially after that success to IO Interactive was recently released 007 first light. IO Interactive is self-published First light Because of a deal reached before Amazon acquired the franchise, though, Amazon has “stake in the game” and the company is talking with IO about when to bring it to Luna, according to Gatiss.

“This is the first offer to go to Prime Video, watch the Bond movies, play the video game, buy merchandise on Amazon.com,” Gatiss says. Amazon owns the rights to “all future Bond titles” and Gatiss says: “I think you can expect (the next Bond game to be) a game published by Amazon Game Studios.” It has not yet been confirmed whether IO will be the developer of any potential sequel. “When the dust settles on this game, we’ll start to lift our heads and figure out, OK, what does (the next Bond game) look like? Who’s the right developer for it? What’s the right story? All that stuff.”

Right now, Amazon has between 10 and 15 games in development, according to Gatiss, who says “probably 33 to 40 percent” are AAA games. But these big-budget games aren’t necessary for the new audience Amazon is seeking to achieve with its new Luna games. Snoop Dogg was put together in “less than a year,” Gatiss says. Amazon is also a “big believer” in generative AI both for AI-driven games like Snoop Dogg’s, but also how it can help development on a broader scale. “To be clear, these are human-made games, but they use artificial intelligence as tools,” he says. “We’re not cutting anyone because of the AI. We’re just using it to try to speed up and try to create different types of games.” (Crystal Dynamics, which is developing… Tomb Raider restart, I confess They used “AI-powered tools” during development.)

Size is by no means a guarantee of success. Netflix has the biggest streaming subscription business but hasn’t made much of an impact in gaming. Although Amazon seems more focused than before, it is still trying a bunch of different things to see what works, and it will take some time to achieve that. However, Gattis is confident in Amazon’s approach. “Don’t sleep on Amazon in this space.”