The company wants to focus on internally developed experiences

Apr 12, 2014 00:16 GMT  ·  By

The team in charge of the video game elements associated with the new Amazon Fire TV set-top box believes that the new device has a lot of potential and says that it will rely on internal development studios to create interesting experiences for it.

Ian Vogel, senior game design manager at Amazon Game Studios, tells Gamasutra that his team wants to create great games and to deliver a lot of interesting and creative mechanics.

Michael Frazzini, vice president of Amazon Games, states, “Whatever traditionally worked, we don't want to do that. How can we create experiences that can be different and wow customers in unique ways? We're not trying to replicate what's already worked, we're trying to think about what the next thing we can create is -- that's the kind of teams we're trying to hire, and the kind of culture we're trying to create.”

The company has already announced that it is working with Clint Hocking, who is best known for creating the core mechanics of Far Cry 2, and with Kim Swift, of Portal fame, in order to create original and unique video game experiences for the Amazon Fire TV.

Tom Leonard, who had a leading role on Left 4 Dead at Valve, and Chris Roby, who worked on Assassin's Creed III at Ubisoft, are also developing their own projects.

The executive says that smaller teams and short development times should result in titles that are well suited for the new device and for the types of customers that will buy it.

Frazzini also accepts that Amazon has a lot to learn about the gaming industry and is happy to fail a couple of times in order to progress in the long term.

Vogel also believes that titles like The Walking Dead, Minecraft, The Room and Super Meat Buy are well suited to the Amazon Fire TV because they target a type of gamer who might no longer be interested in blockbuster titles.

Amazon also believes that both kids and older players will find something interesting to play on the new device, which has 100 titles offered on launch in North America, with another 1,000 in development.

At the moment, the Fire TV is not seen as a direct competitor to the Xbox One from Microsoft and the PlayStation 4 from Sony, but Amazon does have a solid track record of disrupting entire fields and might one day dominate the gaming market.