Amazon hoarding veteran game devs, possibly for work on its game console

Air Patriots
Amazon Game Studios has so far released one game: Air Patriots

Amazon has posted job listings seeking game developers with experience making big budget triple-A video games, leading to further speculation that the bookseller is developing its own dedicated game console.

That speculation was originally sparked in August 2013, when anonymous sources said that Amazon was prepping an Android-based Ouya rival.

The longer Ouya continues to flounder, the less and less appealing that sounds, but that may not be enough to stop Amazon, which opened its gaming division Amazon Game Studio in 2012.

The job listings, which have appeared on LinkedIn and on Amazon's own site, call for a senior graphics developers and a creative director for game development.

Not another Air Patriots

Both positions require seven or more years of game development experience, and Amazon posted that it prefers candidates who have experience with triple-A games.

For the graphics developer Amazon prefers iOS and Android game development experience as well, but that requirement was left off of the other listing.

These clues on their own don't point toward anything with certainty, but it would definitely be strange if Amazon is seeking veteran game developers with seven years of big budget experience so that it could put them to work on casual Kindle Fire games or Air Patriots 2.

Trust your Killer Instincts

The other major piece of this puzzle is Amazon's acquisition of Double Helix, the studio behind Microsoft's recent revival of the Killer Instinct fighting game franchise for its Xbox One console, in early February.

That combined with the job listings is what leads us to believe that Amazon may be hoarding as many experienced game developers as it can.

"Amazon has acquired Double Helix as part of our ongoing commitment to build innovative games for customers," the book-and-more seller told TechRadar at the time.

Indeed, the company is clearly very committed to games, but exactly how committed remains to be seen.

Via Recode

Michael Rougeau

Michael Rougeau is a former freelance news writer for TechRadar. Studying at Goldsmiths, University of London, and Northeastern University, Michael has bylines at Kotaku, 1UP, G4, Complex Magazine, Digital Trends, GamesRadar, GameSpot, IFC, Animal New York, @Gamer, Inside the Magic, Comic Book Resources, Zap2It, TabTimes, GameZone, Cheat Code Central, Gameshark, Gameranx, The Industry, Debonair Mag, Kombo, and others.


Micheal also spent time as the Games Editor for Playboy.com, and was the managing editor at GameSpot before becoming an Animal Care Manager for Wags and Walks.