AWS: How do you do, fellow kids? Please watch our keynotes in Fortnite
Drive around a virtual track in Las Vegas while watching Matt Garman speak on in-game billboards
RE:INVENT Amazon Web Services has decided to stream all five keynotes from its re:Invent conference in the hit multiplayer game Fortnite, which is more than a little bit bonkers.
Readers of a certain age might suggest that opinion proves The Register has become a proverbial old man shouting at a (hyperscale) cloud.
We dismiss such criticism on grounds that AWS will show its conference keynotes in Fortnite in two settings.
One is in a virtual lounge within Fortnite, and we have no objection to that.
The other way to watch in Fortnite is “while driving on a Las Vegas themed racetrack that features the live keynotes playing on billboards throughout the track.”
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AWS shared the image below to illustrate the experience.
AWS re:Invent Keynote Racer” island - Click to enlarge
How can that not be bonkers, given the screen on which the keynote appears is a tiny fraction of the available screen real estate and will quickly disappear from view in a driving game?
Why would AWS bother with such a fleeting experience? Despite its might, the cloud giant is in a battle royale to get a little attention from developers and other IT pros, so while streaming in Fortnite might look a little “How Do You Do, Fellow Kids?" it might also earn AWS some admirers it can’t reach through other mediums.
The more relevant reason, probably, is that the Fortnite stream will run on AWS products and infrastructure, making it a case study for the cloud giant’s own wares and a potential proof point for brands that are a better fit for in-game marketing.
To ram home the point that its cloud is a mighty media-serving monster, AWS will also stream its keynotes on its own gaming-centric video-on-demand service, Twitch.
Old fuddy-duddies can also watch on YouTube or on AWS’s own website. Or just read El Reg's coverage of it throughout the week.
Readers who like the idea of watching re:Invent on Fortnite will need island code 1118-6794-4236.
Whatever that is. ®
Biting the hand that feeds IT
