Amazon to launch Steam, GameTap competitor?

Online shopping giant Amazon.com has hinted at its plans to develop a mechanism for electronic game distribution in an online job advertisment, reports Joystiq.

The ad states that the company is looking for a full-time software development engineer to join the ‘Software and Video Games Digital Technology team’ – most likely to help create a distribution service similar to the one that the retailer currently offers for music, ebooks and selected software.

If so, it could be the third major player in the digital game distribution market, facing the subscription-model GameTap and Valve’s rapidly maturing Steam platform.