Amazon.com Inc. had long struggled to make a good video game. Now that it finally has a hit release, the company is predicting a bright future for that business.

Games could end up being the largest entertainment category over the long haul, Andy Jassy, the chief executive officer, said Tuesday at a technology conference. It’s a bold pronouncement for a company with almost a decade of failures in gaming and one that just renewed its commitment to the movie business in the form of an $8.45 billion acquisition of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM).

A week ago, Amazon released New World, an online computer game where archers and ax wielders colonize a mythical land. Jassy said it’s off to a "great start” and has a couple million active players a day. Interest from gamers and from viewers on Amazon’s livestreaming website Twitch has sustained over the last week, and the first online reviews were generally positive, with an average score of 81% on the aggregator website Metacritic.