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Voice-based audio games are gaining ground in the UK thanks to the Amazon Echo and its Alexa voice assistant, says Amazon’s Alexa Skills Kit director Rob Pulciani (pictured). What’s more, the platform is only set to grow even bigger as Amazon brings Alexa to its brand-new Fire TV Stick in April.
The current Amazon Fire TV Stick was the top-selling product on Amazon in 2016, and the latest model of the popular streaming device could potentially bring Alexa to millions more customers around the world.
Early hits on Alexa included trivia games such as Jeopardy, The Magic Door and Batman title The Wayne Investigation, but now UK games studios are bringing some of their most established franchises to the platform as well, such as Jagex and its RuneScape Quests: One Piercing Note title.
"One reason I think [games have] got momentum is because interacting with things through your voice is super natural, and once you try it and see the magic of it, I think that whoever ends up being the most successful in this space, it’s easy to recognise that interacting with your voice feels right," Pulciani told MCV.
"Then you think about Alexa being embedded in other third party devices, so it may just be that Alexa’s in your watch, or in your laptop, or car. So if that’s the case and you’re using your voice, and you’re not required to get another device, that feels to me like you’re in a good spot to make progress. That’s why when we talk to developers, it’s less about convincing them to build a voice experience, because once they see it, such as turning on your lights with your voice, it’s more about helping them create the best voice experience."
