Former Prime Gaming VP Reflects On Amazon’s Failure To Overtake Steam

Approximately two decades ago, Valve expanded Steam to accommodate third-party games, eventually establishing itself as the leading marketplace for PC video games. This caught the eye of Amazon, who leveraged their online presence to become the foremost book retailer. However, when Amazon attempted to leverage Prime Gaming to dethrone Steam, it fell significantly short of this objective. Now, Ethan Evans – a former executive at Prime Gaming – has shared his insights as to why Amazon failed to unseat Steam from its position of power.

According to PC Gamer, Evans posted a detailed update on LinkedIn discussing Amazon’s numerous efforts over time to surpass Steam as the leading platform for PC games. He pointed out that Amazon’s effort to expand Reflexive Entertainment, their smaller online game store, didn’t succeed, and acquiring Twitch didn’t persuade gamers to choose Prime Gaming as their preferred marketplace for PC games. Even though Luna, Prime Gaming’s streaming service, enabled users to play games without a powerful PC, it didn’t gain much traction. In conclusion, Evans suggested that Amazon underestimated Valve and failed to comprehend why players were drawn to Steam.

Evans wrote that Steam was a store, social network, library, and trophy room all rolled into one, and it functioned smoothly. However, at Amazon, they believed that being large and visible would naturally draw customers, but they overlooked the strength of user habits. They didn’t test their fundamental assumptions before heavily investing in solutions. The reality was that gamers had already found solutions to their issues, and they weren’t inclined to switch platforms just because a new one emerged. Instead, we needed to create something significantly superior, but we failed to do so. Additionally, we should have validated our assumptions about our customers before starting to build, but we didn’t manage that either. Even though we were big enough to construct something, it doesn’t mean people will use it.

Evans learned from Amazon’s unsuccessful efforts to overtake Steam that every business must invest time in thoroughly knowing their intended audience. He further emphasized the significance of engaging in conversation with customers, challenging preconceived notions, and validating ideas before making costly and risky attempts to win them over.

1) In the year 2025, Steam remains the dominant PC marketplace, albeit facing competition from multiple storefronts. Notably, Steam has taken action against a free-to-play game that distributed harmful malware to its players. Additionally, it seems that Valve is cracking down on games that force users to watch ads before they can play. Rumors suggest that Valve is expanding into new territory with the development of Steam Controller 2 and a novel VR controller, although these projects have yet to be officially unveiled.

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2025-02-20 16:09