You have many options when it comes to online gaming and one of the latest additions is Prime Gaming. For those who know Amazon Prime, it will come as little surprise to learn Prime Gaming is owned by Amazon but what does it offer and will 2024 be the year Prime Gaming takes off?
What is Prime Gaming?
Prime Gaming forms part of the Amazon Prime membership, so when you pay monthly for Amazon Prime, you will receive Amazon Gaming. If you register for Amazon Prime, you will have access to free games and a free monthly Twitch subscription. The Twitch subscription comes with chat privileges, badges, exclusive emoticons, and expanded broadcast storage. At the time of writing, some of the games included with Prime Gaming include Fallout 2, Black Desert, Chivalry 2, Bus Simulator 21: Next Stop, and Pearls of Atlantis: The Cove. Fans of online casino games will be disappointed as Amazon Gaming does not currently support real money casino gaming. However, with Razed and other high quality online casinos available, there is little need for Amazon Gaming to get involved. There are often new games added weekly on Prime Gaming and many people see it as the ‘Netflix of online gaming’.
Prime Gaming Reception
It is fair to say Prime Gaming was met with mixed reviews. There is no doubting Prime Gaming provides value for money, especially if you already have an Amazon Prime subscription. There are some exciting titles available on the platform and everyone likes something for free, even if it is a game you would not have purchased at full retail price. However, there has been some criticism over the marketing of Prime Gaming and some Amazon users have yet to even discover they have access to Prime Gaming. The menu is somewhat confusing, and games unlock on various platforms. So, there is a chance the game you want to play is not available on the platform of your choice. Having said that, there is no denying that free access to new video games every month is a terrific addition to your Amazon Prime membership.
What’s Next for Prime Gaming?
There appears no real desire from Amazon to change the way Prime Gaming is presented. They are clearly happy with their place in the online gaming market and feel there is no need to do anything different. The statistics show the number of people using Prime Gaming in the United States has grown each year since 2020. In 2020, there were 142 million Prime Gaming users, this rose to 163.3 million in 2021, and 177.5 million in 2022. The number of free claimed games has also increased year on year and the 2023 statistics are set to show the same level of increase in users.
So, we are not expecting there to be any major changes or massive rise in the number of people using Prime Gaming. The steady upward trajectory of users and downloaded games is expected to continue but there is nothing to suggest that Prime Gaming is going to ‘take off’ in 2024.
