Is Amazon Going Prime-Only On Select Videos, Games?

While Amazon’s push to expand Prime membership shows no signs of slowing, it initially appeared that the latest move in that regard was focused directly on gamers (especially those who also happen to be cinephiles), but perhaps, the situation isn’t that cut-and-dry.

On Friday (April 22), Seeking Alpha shared the news that the eCommerce giant had stopped making available via direct sale a number of video games — including popular titles, such as “Grand Theft Auto V,” “Assassin’s Creed Syndicate” and “Minecraft” — and movies to non-Prime members (who could, however, still get their hands on the goods through third-party sellers on Amazon).

The change — which was initially reported by VideoGamer.com — reportedly affected Amazon customers in the U.S. and the U.K.

After VideoGamer.com first posted its story on April 22, the outlet added an update to include the following statement from Amazon:

“One of the many benefits of Amazon Prime is access to exclusive selection on a number of great products. Customers who are not Prime members can sign up for a 30-day free trial of Amazon Prime, or they can purchase those items from a Marketplace seller.”

Not long thereafter, however, VideoGamer.com posted a second update to its story, stating that Amazon appeared to have lifted the Prime-exclusive restriction on video games then followed up with a third update confirming as much.

Following that most recent update, the outlet could offer no explanation as to why Amazon had apparently gone back and forth on making certain video game titles Prime-exclusive and made no specific mention as to the status of movie titles in that regard.