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Amazon and Twitch 'Free Games with Prime' program detailed

by Mark Tyson on 14 March 2018, 11:40

Tags: Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN)

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Twitch has announced a new cross-promotion with its owner, Amazon. Starting Thursday (15th March), Twitch Prime Members will be able to snaffle a bunch of free games, starting with "a pair of critically acclaimed titles," Superhot and Oxenfree. This isn't a USA-only promotion, as a current Amazon Prime UK subscriber I see it in my Prime benefits too.

Recapping a little of the Amazon / Twitch history; Amazon bought video game streaming site Twitch in 2014. About a year ago Amazon started to show more of its influence as Twitch became a video game etailer, and it introduced the ability to link your Amazon and Twitch accounts to reap various subscriber benefits - delivering complementary Twitch Prime access if you are a current Amazon Prime subscriber.

The latest Prime membership enhancement on offer is of free games for subscribers to keep - even after a subscription lapses. Starting Thursday, Superhot and Oxenfree will be given away free to subscribers who are interested. Over the next couple of months there are other titles lined up too.

The first batch of games, available between 15th - 31st March, includes;

  • Superhot
  • Shadow Tactics
  • Tales from Candlekeep
  • Oxenfree
  • Mr. Shifty

Then in April the following will be released "in no particular order";

  • Tales from the Borderlands
  • SteamWorld Dig 2
  • Kingsway
  • Tokyo 42
  • Dubwars

This isn't the first free game or two given away to Twitch Prime members, currently they can grab Devil May Cry HD. However, it is the first pre-announced concerted effort with respect to a series of regular giveaways.

HEXUS Forums :: 9 Comments

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Posted by cheesemp - Wed 14 Mar 2018 12:40
Looks like Amazon is gearing up to take on steam then…
Posted by LSG501 - Wed 14 Mar 2018 13:08
cheesemp
Looks like Amazon is gearing up to take on steam then…
More likely they're trying to get people to sign up to amazon prime/twitch subscription.

Twitch prime has been offering ‘freebies’ for quite a while, this is just expanding on the skins/free in game items etc that are normally given away.
Posted by cheesemp - Wed 14 Mar 2018 13:27
LSG501
More likely they're trying to get people to sign up to amazon prime/twitch subscription.

Twitch prime has been offering ‘freebies’ for quite a while, this is just expanding on the skins/free in game items etc that are normally given away.

I'm sorry I just don't think so. Amazon love retail - yes this encourages people to Prime but it also plus the Twitch client onto PCs. Once its installed and users have got use to installing games via twitch its not a big step to becoming a steam alternative. I can't believe Amazon don't want a slice of that pie - they've got most other game retail areas covered.
Posted by Spud1 - Wed 14 Mar 2018 13:56
cheesemp
I'm sorry I just don't think so. Amazon love retail - yes this encourages people to Prime but it also plus the Twitch client onto PCs. Once its installed and users have got use to installing games via twitch its not a big step to becoming a steam alternative. I can't believe Amazon don't want a slice of that pie - they've got most other game retail areas covered.

I don't see them trying to do that - it doesn't make sense for them to try and put in that sort of investment when they can instead take on the CDKey market and sell steam keys etc - they have a route to market, cost to enter is tiny and they will be able to tie it into their other platforms really easily. Trying to take on Steam directly would be a huge step and I don't think it's really needed.

What might be telling though (and I don't know until tomorrow I guess?) is how they deliver the free games. Presently twitch rewards are given out as publisher/platform/title specific keys - e.g. the Blizzard items recently have been blizzard keys, we've seen steam keys for game addons etc. Will we get a steam key for Superhot tomorrow or will it be a download as part of the twitch client?

edit: Plus, the Twitch client is pretty awful. It's not quite as bad as uPlay or the epic launcher, but even origin is better than the Twitch client. I still run the old curse client to manage my WoW addons (takes a bit of faffing to make it work as they are really pushing their new one) as a result.
Posted by LSG501 - Wed 14 Mar 2018 14:12
cheesemp
I'm sorry I just don't think so. Amazon love retail - yes this encourages people to Prime but it also plus the Twitch client onto PCs. Once its installed and users have got use to installing games via twitch its not a big step to becoming a steam alternative. I can't believe Amazon don't want a slice of that pie - they've got most other game retail areas covered.

It's already been shown on other sites how much amazon are pushing prime access these days.

In the case of twitch drops the only thing you need to be is a member of twitch or amazon prime and they don't even stop you from getting them via amazon trials too. However if you want more of the freebies you need to be a member (subscription) or just sign up with a different email address later on for another trial…

I've claimed several items in the past while being on the trial, never needed to buy anything and I haven't lost said items after cancelling my trial.

You can also see it in other areas that Amazon are trying to push prime access, with restricting items to prime members only etc.

Now a side of me sees this as them trying to change the mindset of users, especially young gamers, into ‘paying’ to use amazon…. a bit like a membership fee and as we all know amazon is pretty much the first place people shop online and that's a lot of extra cash for just dispatching an item faster. Throw in more perks that make it look better value, more will join up and then after a while reduce the amount of ‘freebies’ etc while hoping to not lose many subscribers

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