With a science fiction theme, Crucible is Amazon’s bet to become a big name in the gaming market
This Tuesday (5) the Amazon made an announcement that promises to shake the video game market, revealing the release date of Crucible, the first high-budget game (also known as AAA, or “triple-A”) from Amazon Game Studios – arm of the internet giant that has existed since 2012, but that until then had only released a few games for tablets.
Launching on May 20, Crucible will be a free third-person shooter that will bring together elements from some of the most successful games in the past five years, inheriting features from titles like Overwatch, Fortnite, Apex Legends, DOTA 2 and League of Legends.
Announced in 2016 during the TwitchCon (annual event dedicated to the streaming platform of Amazon), Crucible has been in development since 2014 and, according to a recent report by The New York Times, went through several changes in this period, and more than once the developers had to abandon what they had already developed and start all over again practically from scratch. According to the report, Amazon’s initial intention was to launch the game in March, but the COVID-19 ended up forcing the company to postpone the launch to May.
In season Frank Castle (not to be confused with the Punisher), head of Relentless Studio (company belonging to Amazon Game Studios who was responsible for the game’s development) revealed that the decision to postpone the game’s release was a way to avoid putting even more pressure on the team, who had worked tirelessly on the game for six years and who, close to launch, was also very concerned about their families due to the pandemic.
What to expect from Crucible
As we have already commented, Crucible will be a third-person shooter with elements from some of the most successful games in recent years, as well as an ambitious project from Amazon entry into the world of video games.
Considered by the company as a game of the genre PvPvE, the game will be entirely focused on online multiplayer matches (that is, there will be no “campaign mode” where players can play alone) where they must not only face each other, but also work in groups to fight AI-controlled opponents.
As in Overwatch or Apex Legends, Crucible has a wide variety of characters, each with specific weapons and abilities. These characters will be able to act in three different game modes: the first one is the Heart of the Hives, where players will be divided into two teams of four people each, where they will face hordes of enemies controlled by the game’s AI.
The second mode is called Alpha Hunters, and is essentially the battle royale in Crucible, in which eight pairs will face each other in the same arena and the winner will be the one who leaves alive. The third, called Harvester Command, is one that brings parallels with games like DOTA 2 and League of Legends, in which two teams of eight people must face each other in an arena but, in addition to defeating all members of the opposing team, it will also be necessary to collect some items on the map to level up with the character and make him stronger for the confrontation Final.
War for streaming
By being so openly inspired by other successful games, it is clear that the audience that Crucible will try to conquer is the growing niche of the streamers market, fighting in the same space with another upcoming launch: the Valorant gives Riot, which has already been very successful among streamers in its beta version.
Valorant, who is still in the beta phase, will be Crucible’s great opponent in the dispute for the game streamers market (Image: Riot)
But in this dispute, Crucible should have a certain advantage: first, because it is developed by the same company (the Amazon) which also owns the world’s largest game streaming platform – the Twitch. Second, launching in May, Crucible therefore it should attract more players’ attention than Valorant, which still does not have a defined date, with the Riot just stating it should happen in mid-July this year.
In addition, when the game was announced in 2016, the Amazon had promised that it would have some elements that would allow a greater integration between the game and the Twitch, which would make life easier for everyone who would use the game to develop content on the company’s streaming platform. So far, the company has not yet commented on whether this greater integration promised in 2016 remains part of the final product, and we may have to wait for the launch to find out if something like that is still part of the game.
Besides Crucible, Amazon also promises to launch MMO later this year New World, but little is known about the company’s next big game or what games it is inspired by, however it is possible that we will have news in the coming months.
Crucible will be released on May 20 exclusively for PC (but it is very likely that console versions will be released in the future), and can be downloaded free of charge by Steam.
Source: The Verge, The New York Times
