Our Game Streaming Future?
Plus the 2026 winners from the Games for Change Awards
Amazon made changes to their Prime app where subscribers will now be able to use it to play video games. Find out the details below. Also, the Games for Change Awards took place last week. Check out all the winners along with the latest gaming news. Let’s go.
Amazon promotes game streaming
As hardware prices continue to increase, Amazon is betting big on streaming games.
The digital storefront announced that their streaming gaming platform Luna will now be integrated with Prime Video on Fire TV devices rather than being its own app. This puts streaming video games front and center for more users. Games like Hogwarts Legacy, EA Sports FC 26, Dispatch, Alan Wake 2 and more are available for U.S. and U.K. users to play for free immediately. Game titles will rotate over time, providing new experiences for subscribers.
In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, general manager for Amazon Luna and Amazon Game Studios Jeff Gattis says he sees gaming tying in with shows and other media.
A big part of our content strategy going forward is going to be leveraging Amazon IP. I think this is an industry thing as a whole. You're seeing this integration start to happen between video, TV and interactive video games.
It's been things like Fallout, where there's a game and there's a TV show, but I think it's even going to get tighter over time, where these video games are effectively going to be more of an extension of your movie or TV experience.
In a separate interview, Gattis cites another reason he believes Luna will succeed: rising hardware and component costs.
We saw the Steam Machine opening at $1,000. We hear rumors about consoles, because of the RAM crisis, pushing up over $1,000 in Gen 10. So, I do think you get to a point at which more people will be in the consideration set for a cloud gaming solution, just because of the sheer cost of buying dedicated hardware.
Amazon isn’t the only company trying to find solutions in a changing video game landscape. Microsoft began testing advertisement-supported game streaming on its console. The ad tier is optional, but those who test it will be able to play one hour of streaming games for watching the ads. For those concerned about advertisement interruptions, Microsoft says the ads will play before the game, and not during play.
The 2026 Games for Change winners
A studio recently released by Microsoft won Game of the Year at the 2026 Games for Change Awards.
South of Midnight won the top honor just a few weeks after Compulsion Games was cut by Xbox. Producer and studio general manager Geneviève Forget acknowledged this in her acceptance speech, saying:
South of Midnight is about rising up in challenging times when it gets tough, about growth, about resilience, and the word change right now feels really timely for us because Compulsion Games is going back to being independent.
Here is the complete list of winners from the 2026 Games for Change Awards:
- Game/Experience of the Year: South of Midnight
- Best Narrative, Best Gameplay, Indie Breakout Award: Consume Me
- Best in Impact: And Roger
- Best in Learning: The Darkest Files
- Best in Community Empowerment: Relooted
- Best in Environmental Impact: Faceminer
- Best in Health & Wellness: ARWell Pro
- Best in XR & Emerging Media: A Long Goodbye
- Best Platform-based Project: Planet Planners on Roblox
- Best Board Or Tabletop Game For Impact: Ciclo do Poder / Cycle of Power
- Vanguard Award: Jenn Panattoni
- Industry Leader Award: Thatgamecompany
- Giving Award: Special Effect
- Accessibility Award: EA Sports FC 26
It's Gen Con Week
It’s Gen Con week, the best four days in gaming.
Our staff will be attending the biggest board game convention in North America this week. We already posted our 20 most anticipated board games for Gen Con 2026 article (check it out), and plan to post plenty of images and videos to our Instagram account (or Threads) throughout the weekend.
However, because we are a small staff, this means next week’s issue will likely be delayed. But don’t worry, we plan to have plenty of coverage of Gen Con next week on the site to make up for it. Become a Supporter today, and you will receive it all in your inbox along with our weekly newsletter.
Side Quests (more stories worth reading)
❎ Microsoft is bringing backwards compatibility to Windows PC for select Xbox games.
📊 Hasbro scrapped several video games it had in development to save $56 million on their taxes. The company also announced that sales of Magic: The Gathering cards brought in over $545 million.
⚔️ Sony announced God of War Laufey will release February 16, 2027, and that Kratos will return in the next God of War game.
👍🏼 Square revealed some news at Final Fantasy XIV Fan Fest, including a new in-game job and details on a Switch 2 release.
🎲 Three months after announcing their intentions, board game maker CMON terminated their plans to invest $2.1 million in NFT games.
📊 Xbox console sales jumped 86% in June, while its estimated Steam Deck sales have dropped 80% since Valve raised the prices.
🎞️ Atari signed a movie deal with Universal for 10 of their games, including Missile Command, Breakout and Pong.
💿 Analysts say only 7 PlayStation games have sold more than 100,000 physical copies this year in the U.S.
👏🏾 After their studio closed, the team behind Wreckreation started a new one and are working on a sequel.
🥊 The Xbox version of Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game was delayed just hours before it was set to launch.
🏀 NBA 2K27 and EA Sports FC 27 announced their cover athletes, with a pair of Frenchmen leading the way.
💿 Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser said in an interview that if people want games on a disc, “companies should provide it.”
🗓️ Tomb Raider: Catalyst is delayed until 2028.
📚 The producer for Silent Hill f pushed the game’s writers to read 100-200 books per year.
🖥️ A new LG monitor has reportedly been automatically installing adware on computers.
New Releases this week:
Check out our article on 10 new games to play in July.
7/28: Halo: Campaign Evolved (PlayStation, Xbox and PC)
7/29: Mistfall Hunter (PlayStation, Xbox and PC)
7/31: The Relic: First Guardian (PlayStation and PC)
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