According to sources speaking anonymously to Kotaku, the online retail giant Amazon has paid between $50 and $70 million to Crytek in a massive licensing deal involving the latter’s proprietary CryEngine.

Crytek has been in dire financial straits for some time now. Kotaku’s sources indicate that the licensing deal was big enough to help the struggling studio get back on its feet after the disastrous development of Ryse: Son of Rome.

The price Amazon allegedly paid to license the CryEngine is way over the norm for even AAA game development. As many industry observers note, there could be much more to this deal.

This is just the latest in a string of moves Amazon has made in the video game sphere. They’ve hired two big names for a still-unannounced project, purchased an independent game studio (Double Helix) and launched the Android console Amazon Fire TV. Amazon is already producing their own TV shows, so why not develop their own video games too?They certainly have the capital to fund big-budget game development. Now that Amazon has the CryEngine in their stable, that seems a more plausible goal than ever before.

Amazon currently has a small in-house studio in addition to Double Helix, which develops games for mobile devices and Amazon’s Fire line of tablets and phones.

Who knows? Maybe when Amazon implements drone delivery, they can develop, publish, and ship video games without any middle man. Sounds like a pretty bold vision of the future to me.

[Source: Kotaku]
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Hey everyone! I'm a film grad who loves writing, video games, violent movies, and climbing mountains. I've been gaming and writing my entire life. Some of my favorites are Final Fantasy X, Kingdom Hearts, Resident Evil 4, Dead Space, The Last Of Us, and the Mass Effect trilogy. You can find me here at New Gamer Nation and Leviathyn.com.