Cool kids only: Amazon opens dedicated indie-game portal

Amazon is a gigantic corporation, but it’s claiming that it wants to help the little guy. It produces billions in revenue every quarter by selling toilet paper, digital cameras, and books — but now it just opened a new Indie Games Store to help promote video games from small studios.

“Game development is an art, like any other,” Amazon Games’ Peter Heinrich wrote on the site’s blog. “It can be personally rewarding, and like other forms of artistic expression, great games can come from anywhere. Powerhouse game studios don’t hold a monopoly on inventiveness or creativity, and some of the best games of all time were created on a shoestring by two or three people with a shared vision.”

Through this portal, Amazon will promote indie developers. It is available now at Amazon.com/indiegames. The online retailer already has 400 games from 100 different studios, but it doesn’t just want to offer up the same games as Steam. Amazon plans to offer special deals, exclusive bundles, and interviews with the people making the games.

“It’s hard to get noticed,” wrote Heinrich. “If you’re an indie game developer, it’s usually a headache to get your game in front of people, both gamers and reviewers. Amazon recognizes this.”

To celebrate the opening of Amazon’s Indie Games Store, the company is offering $10 indie bundles. For these game collections, all of the proceeds go directly to the studios. Additionally, anyone that purchases anything through this portal in June or July will get to select a code to redeem three select free titles. The specific games change daily, so Amazon wants to encourage people to check back every day.

Amazon is also using its platform to introduce creators. It already published its first Indie Spotlight that features the developer of the Bit.Trip series, Gaijin Games. You can read the interview here.

Developers interested in getting involved with Amazon can email the company at find-more-gamers@amazon.com.

So why is Amazon doing this? Well, we asked, but it just pointed to Heinrich’s blog. Most likely, the smart people at that company realize that today’s indies are tomorrow’s breakout stars. Building a relationship with them at the beginning is a smart way to build loyalty when they are worth a lot more money. This is also known as the exact opposite of Microsoft’s Xbox Live Arcade strategy.