This talk explores the genres and types that attract the attention of professional voice developers, as well as the business models that have been tried, established, and brought to fruition. This includes ‘gaming’ – Amazon’s developer reward program, highly engaging games with premium content, voice apps built for branding and marketing purposes, and assistants for board or video games. 

One notable example we’ll be investigating is Sensible Object’s ‘When In Rome’. This is a board game that comes with its own Skill, in which Alexa introduces the rules, keeps track of scores, and moderates the game’s trivia questions. We’ll be looking at how well voice is integrated into this traditional medium, and if it has the potential to impact customers’ expectations towards tabletop games in general.

After this fine example of a voice-enabled game, we will see how much value Alexa & Co can provide in voice-assisted games where it serves as an optional modality. One such example from contemporary computer games is Destiny 2, where Alexa assumes the role of an in-game character and manages parts of the player’s inventory and clan communications.