As the Game Developers Conference kicks off today Amazon has unveiled GameOn, a new platform aimed at helping devs implement cross-platform (mobile, console, PC) competitive multiplayer in their games.
This may appeal to teams looking for an off-the-shelf solution that helps players compete against one another across platforms, and Amazon is hoping to draw devs into trying GameOn by offering it for free until May 1st.
After that, you can expect to be charged roughly $0.003 per play, though Amazon says after the May 1st cutoff it will then give devs 35,000 free plays per day for a limited time.
What GameOn offers is pretty straightforward: standard multiplayer, leagues and leaderboards, as well as the ability for devs, players, and community members to create custom events or competitions.
According to Amazon director of competitive gaming Marja Koopmans, GameOn was initially intended to be an SDK -- but feedback from devs pushed the team to go with a set of APIs instead.
"We started out as an SDK," Koopmans told Gamasutra. "Developers were very clear with us that they did not want another SDK in their game. So we shifted to this API approach, which benefited everyone because we now can get to scale."
More details on GameOn and other Amazon developer tech can be found on the company's dev portal.