Amazon can make just about anything – except a good video game

To develop games, Amazon tried to bend a creative and collaborative process to its will, and the results offer lessons to Apple Inc, Facebook Inc and Google, whose efforts so far have been similarly ineffective. Successful video games are a combination of art, entertainment, technology and very large budgets. Big tech companies only really figured out the last two. — AP

Mike Frazzini had never made a video game when he helped start Amazon Game Studios. Eight years later, he has released two duds, withdrew both from stores after a torrent of negative reactions and cancelled many more.

For a company that dominates countless areas of retail, consumer electronics and enterprise computing, the multiple failures in gaming show one realm that may be impervious to Amazon.com Inc’s distinctive business philosophy. It tried to make games the Amazon way, instead of simply making games people would want to play.