Crucible, Amazon’s new online shooter: Alexa, does this game have a chance?

Enlarge / Crucible launches this week as a free-to-play PC shooter with a real "Guardians of the Galaxy meets Overwatch" vibe. (credit: Amazon Game Studios / Relentless)

After eight years of existence, you might expect Amazon Game Studios to have a wealth of game launches under its belt-especially after hiring famed game-industry veterans to lead some of its teams. But the Amazon Game Studios story has mostly been about delays, cancellations, staff turnover, and lukewarm launches.

Hence, the publisher's first major free-to-play shooter, Crucible, launches tomorrow, May 20, on Windows PCs (Steam) without much of a neatly laid red carpet. After going hands-on with the game in a preview session, I'm honestly not inspired to shake that up or raise anyone's expectations.

Instead, I'm using Crucible's launch as an opportunity to look back at the history of Amazon Game Studios. This division could have been an industry juggernaut in terms of leveraging Amazon's cash reserves and tech-industry dominance. Instead, it has limped to its current May 2020 state. What has it made? What has it canceled? And what's up with Crucible?

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