Amazon.com Inc. is bringing its online store to video games and mobile apps made by other companies, the latest effort to extend the e-commerce giant's reach beyond its sprawling online marketplace.
With Amazon Anywhere, introduced Tuesday, the company will let people on gaming, mobile, web and augmented-reality applications buy related real-world items without leaving the experience.
The service will debut with Peridot, an AR game featuring virtual pets from Niantic, the developer of Pokemon Go, the company said in a blog post. A video demonstrates a shopper linking their Amazon account to the game and purchasing a t-shirt, which is delivered from an Amazon warehouse.
The Seattle-based company has long tried to funnel users to its store, including via a longstanding program that offers a cut of each sale to partners that publish links to Amazon listings.
Now, facing increased competition from Shopify Inc. and other sellers of sophisticated e-commerce software, Amazon has sought to extend its reach to other corners of the internet. A program called Buy With Prime, launched in January, lets Prime subscribers use the speedy shipping service when shopping on other websites.
