With Apple finally jumping into the mobile gaming on TV fray with the new Apple TV, we’re seeing the first counter-move from competitors. Amazon has announced the Fire TV Gaming Edition, which for $139.99, includes a Fire TV, a controller, and a 32 GB microSD card. Plus, it has DuckTales Remastered ($4.99) and Shovel Knight, which is the game’s first appearance on any sort of mobile platform. Interestingly, it eschews the voice remote in favor of the microphone on the controller.
This seems like an interesting move, especially after the Apple TV launched at $149, but it feels like this might be missing the point. After all, this is still more expensive than the default Fire TV, and a Fire TV with the controller is still $139.98 in total. Sure, you get two free games and a microSD card, but still, I think $99 should be the sweet spot, and this still won’t help mass-market adoption by including the controller with the remote. The Fire TV has a bigger market penetration as far as games goes right now, but give it a short amount of time, and the Apple TV will catch up. Plus, are expensive TV boxes still relevant when streaming sticks for $35-$40 provide a perfectly capable experience with most streaming services?
But hey, it’s not all bad, the bundle includes Shovel Knight, which is an awesome game, and hey – maybe I need to go yell at Yacht Club to release it on iOS and the Apple TV, because I would happily give them more money for that game. I dropped $30 on a Shovel Knight plush at their booth without any hesitation, I’ll pay $15 for an iOS version of Shovel Knight.
