Amazon hires two high-profile game designers in Kim Swift and Clint Hocking

[Shawn Knight]

Amazon Game Studios has hired two high-profile game designers in Kim Swift and Clint Hocking, evidence that Amazon is taking its gaming ambitions seriously.

Swift is best known for her work on Portal but also served as creative director at Airtight Games where she helped create titles like Quantum Conundrum and Soul Fjord. Hocking’s resume, meanwhile, includes stints at LucasArts, Ubisoft and Valve. Some of his bigger projects include Splinter Cell, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory and Far Cry 2.

The hires, both in the Seattle area, were first spotted on LinkedIn by Kotaku. Swift lists her role as senior designer and says she works on secret things for a secret amount of time that no one can know about. Hocking’s job title is also senior designer. His job description says he is working on unannounced projects and has been on the job since February.

If you still need more evidence of the hire, Hocking confirmed his and Swift’s employment in an e-mail to Polygon.

It’s anyone’s guess as to what exactly the two designers will be working on but odds are, it’ll end up being played on Amazon’s new set-top box. The company unveiled Fire TV on Wednesday at a press event in New York as a hybrid video streamer / gaming console.

The system runs Android and is powered by what equates to high-end smartphone hardware. It’s on sale as of writing for $99 while the Fire game controller will set you back another $39.99.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/56243-amazon-hires-two-high-profile-game-designers-in-kim-swift-and-clint-hocking.html

 

[amstech]

Whatever got into Amazon's head that made them engage in the gaming scene needs to be extracted painfully with a syringe. People like to play these little fad games on their phones and tablets, if their going to sit down and use a gamepad you think they are going to choose Candy Crush over Titanfall and Gears of War?

 

[TheLastPanda]

Whatever got into Amazon's head that made them engage in the gaming scene needs to be extracted painfully with a syringe. People like to play these little fad games on their phones and tablets, if their going to sit down and use a gamepad you think they are going to choose Candy Crush over Titanfall and Gears of War?

There is a really big casual market emerging. I can't believe people spend hours on Facebook games instead of full games but it does work.

 

[treeski]

Whatever got into Amazon's head that made them engage in the gaming scene needs to be extracted painfully with a syringe. People like to play these little fad games on their phones and tablets, if their going to sit down and use a gamepad you think they are going to choose Candy Crush over Titanfall and Gears of War?

There is a really big casual market emerging. I can't believe people spend hours on Facebook games instead of full games but it does work.

Yeah exactly... it's the entire reason the Wii got so huge. Considering Wii U's poor performance, there is a market there for others to grab.

 

[lmike6453]

Whatever got into Amazon's head that made them engage in the gaming scene needs to be extracted painfully with a syringe. People like to play these little fad games on their phones and tablets, if their going to sit down and use a gamepad you think they are going to choose Candy Crush over Titanfall and Gears of War?

I have to disagree as I use a MOGA controller all the time paired with games on Android like GTA San Andreas, Need for Speed Most Wanted, Portalize, etc etc

It definitely is product specific, and they need to keep those console ports rolling our way

 

[Guest]

Naughty Dog has a few ex - employee up for grab...

 

[wastedkill]

So where on earth is this location? "in Kim Swift and Clint Hocking" is it in florida or is it more like florida or???

 

[Holotus]

I think in time Amazon will have a streaming service for high quality AAA games.