Amazon Makes It Simple for Unity Developers to Add In-App Purchasing and GameCircle Features to Their Games

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--(NASDAQ: AMZN) – Amazon.com today launched free Unity plugins for their In-App Purchasing and Amazon GameCircle APIs, making it even faster and easier for developers using Unity to add these features into their games and apps. In-App Purchasing and GameCircle improve monetization and increase engagement by allowing developers to add Achievements, Leaderboards, and Whispersync for Games to their games on Kindle Fire and Kindle Fire HD. To get started, developers can visit the Mobile App Distribution Portal at http://developer.amazon.com.

“Unity is one of the most popular tools for building mobile games”

“Unity is one of the most popular tools for building mobile games,” said Mike Frazzini, Director of Amazon Games. “Amazon’s In-App Purchasing and GameCircle APIs help developers reach more customers, keep them engaged, and make more money. Every week millions of customers are playing GameCircle enabled games and are able to compare scores and compete against friends. We want to make it as easy as possible for developers to quickly integrate these features and our new, free plugins make it incredibly simple to do so for anyone using Unity.”

“Amazon helped to change the way the world looks at the Internet and retail,” said David Helgason, CEO, Unity Technologies. “We're excited to see them bring their energy to games and especially games built with Unity.”

“We recently integrated GameCircle into Temple Run using the GameCircle plugin for Unity. The process was very easy, and incredibly fast,” said Keith Sheperd, Founder and CEO of Imangi Studios, and creator of Temple Run. “What would have normally taken days to integrate only took a few hours and it was all very straight forward. We will definitely use the Unity plugin to add GameCircle and In-App Purchasing to our other games.”

The Unity game development platform includes a wealth of tools designed to help developers create rich interactive experiences expertly and efficiently. It also creates binaries targeted for specific platforms such as Android, which developers can publish to Kindle Fire and the Amazon Appstore for Android.

Amazon launched an In-App Purchasing API earlier this year, enabling developers to sell digital content and subscriptions within their apps and games. The average In-App Purchasing transaction generates more than twice the revenue of the average paid app transaction. In addition, Amazon recently announced GameCircle APIs, which provide developers with a series of features that encourage engagement within their games, including Achievements, Leaderboards, and Whispersync for Games. GameCircle also displays relevant gameplay data, such as Leaderboards and the number of friends playing a game, front and center within Kindle Fire’s games library, creating a unique opportunity for developers to keep customers engaged with their games.

Developers can access the free plugins for these valuable features by visiting http://developer.amazon.com.

About Amazon.com

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth’s Biggest Selection. Amazon.com, Inc. seeks to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices. Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of unique new, refurbished and used items in categories such as Books; Movies, Music & Games; Digital Downloads; Electronics & Computers; Home & Garden; Toys, Kids & Baby; Grocery; Apparel, Shoes & Jewelry; Health & Beauty; Sports & Outdoors; and Tools, Auto & Industrial. Amazon Web Services provides Amazon’s developer customers with access to in-the-cloud infrastructure services based on Amazon’s own back-end technology platform, which developers can use to enable virtually any type of business. Kindle Paperwhite is the most-advanced e-reader ever constructed with 62% more pixels and 25% increased contrast, a patented built-in front light for reading in all lighting conditions, extra-long battery life, and a thin and light design. The new latest generation Kindle, the lightest and smallest Kindle, now features new, improved fonts and faster page turns. Kindle Fire HD features a stunning custom high-definition display, exclusive Dolby audio with dual stereo speakers, high-end, laptop-grade Wi-Fi with dual-band support, dual-antennas and MIMO for faster streaming and downloads, enough storage for HD content, and the latest generation processor and graphics engine—and it is available in two display sizes—7” and 8.9”. The all-new Kindle Fire features a faster processor for 40% faster performance, twice the memory, and longer battery life.

Amazon and its affiliates operate websites, including www.amazon.com, www.amazon.co.uk, www.amazon.de, www.amazon.co.jp, www.amazon.fr, www.amazon.ca, www.amazon.cn, www.amazon.it, and www.amazon.es. As used herein, “Amazon.com,” “we,” “our” and similar terms include Amazon.com, Inc., and its subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise.

Forward-Looking Statements

This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ significantly from management's expectations. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, risks related to competition, management of growth, new products, services and technologies, potential fluctuations in operating results, international expansion, outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment center optimization, seasonality, commercial agreements, acquisitions and strategic transactions, foreign exchange rates, system interruption, inventory, government regulation and taxation, payments and fraud. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com's financial results is included in Amazon.com's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings.