Zynga (NASDAQ: ZNGA), the perpetually imperiled social game developer, received a new and unexpected competitor this week when Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) announced that it is getting into game design.
This is not the kind of game that will steal the thunder of Activision (NASDAQ: ATVI), whose Call of Duty franchise still leads the game industry in the United States.
The design work has to shift to the player, but with an assist by technology that makes the game look like a Pixar (nasdaq: PIXR - news - people ) movie.