PHYND Expands Cloud Gaming Beta to Amazon Fire TV
PHYND is expanding its push to turn the television into a gaming platform, launching its free, ad-supported cloud gaming service on Amazon Fire TV devices in the United States.
The beta launch gives Fire TV users access to PHYND’s catalog of games without buying a console, individual games or a subscription. The service is available on several Fire TV streaming devices and Amazon Ember smart TVs.
The expansion comes less than two months after Beet.TV caught up with PHYND founder and CEO André Swanston at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in June. Speaking with Beet.TV Editorial Director Lisa Granatstein, Swanston described a vision in which connected televisions evolve from passive entertainment screens into interactive platforms for gaming and advertising.
“I think what’s exciting for brands right now is that television is becoming interactive and more engaged and that presents new opportunities for brands to engage with consumers,” Swanston told Beet.TV at Cannes.
Fire TV broadens the addressable screen
PHYND’s Fire TV rollout extends that strategy beyond smart TVs to streaming media players that consumers can plug into existing television sets.
The service is available on supported Fire TV Stick and Fire TV Cube devices as well as Amazon’s Ember television lineup. Players can download the PHYND app from the Amazon Appstore, then use a compatible game controller or a smartphone-based virtual controller.
“PHYND was built on the belief that everyone should have access to great games, regardless of the hardware they own,” Swanston said in announcing the expansion. “Launching across Fire TV devices dramatically expands our ability to reach customers wherever they are.”
PHYND said compatible devices include the Fire TV Stick 4K, Fire TV Stick 4K Max, Fire TV Stick 4K Plus and third-generation Fire TV Cube. The service also supports Amazon Ember 2-Series, 4-Series, QLED Series and Mini-LED Series televisions.
Gaming without the console
The Fire TV launch advances a key part of the strategy Swanston outlined to Beet.TV at Cannes: eliminating the hardware and upfront costs that have traditionally limited access to premium gaming.
Swanston said in June that only about one-third of television households worldwide have a gaming console. PHYND sees the much larger installed base of connected televisions and streaming devices as an opportunity to reach people who might play games but don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars on dedicated hardware.
“Whether it’s seeing an ad, whether it’s giving you a reward or sponsored experience, we’re helping you access this game for free,” Swanston told Beet.TV.
PHYND also argues that its free-to-play model can give game developers and publishers another distribution channel outside traditional console and PC ecosystems. Advertising provides a way to subsidize access while potentially creating new sources of revenue for game makers.
Familiar games come to the big screen
PHYND’s launch catalog includes games from independent studios and publishers including Microids, Tate Multimedia, Fishing Cactus and Plug In Digital.
Titles include Smurfs Kart, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, Garfield Lasagna Party, Agatha Christie: Death on the Nile, Agatha Christie: Murder on the Orient Express, Space Adventure Cobra – The Awakening, UFO Robot Grendizer, Voodolls, Boiling Bolt and Redout: Solar Challenge.
The recognizable titles are important to PHYND’s pitch to advertisers. At Cannes, Swanston said one of the company’s goals is convincing marketers that gaming can provide the kind of premium content environment they already seek across streaming television.
PHYND is also trying to avoid inserting ads directly into gameplay. Swanston told Beet.TV that the company is focusing on formats such as pre-roll advertising and sponsored rewards that can help finance free access without interrupting players in the middle of a game.
“What you don’t want is for a brand to be considered intrusive or ruining the vibe,” Swanston said at Cannes.
From Cannes pitch to Fire TV rollout
When Beet.TV spoke with Swanston in June, PHYND had already launched on Samsung smart TVs and he identified Amazon Fire TV and LG as part of the company’s expansion plans.
The Fire TV beta now checks off another piece of that roadmap and potentially puts PHYND in front of consumers who don’t own one of its supported smart TVs.
For advertisers, the larger bet is that cloud gaming can follow a trajectory similar to connected TV advertising. Swanston, who previously founded connected TV data and advertising company Tru Optik, remembers when marketers regarded CTV as an experimental channel with questions about scale, targeting and measurement.
PHYND is betting that gaming on the television is approaching a similar transition. And with its arrival on Fire TV, more living-room screens are getting something they didn’t previously need: a Start button.
PHYND is expanding its push to turn the television into a gaming platform, launching its free, ad-supported cloud gaming service on Amazon Fire TV devices in the United States.
The beta launch gives Fire TV users access to PHYND’s catalog of games without buying a console, individual games or a subscription. The service is available on several Fire TV streaming devices and Amazon Ember smart TVs.
The expansion comes less than two months after Beet.TV caught up with PHYND founder and CEO André Swanston at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in June. Speaking with Beet.TV Editorial Director Lisa Granatstein, Swanston described a vision in which connected televisions evolve from passive entertainment screens into interactive platforms for gaming and advertising.
“I think what’s exciting for brands right now is that television is becoming interactive and more engaged and that presents new opportunities for brands to engage with consumers,” Swanston told Beet.TV at Cannes.
Fire TV broadens the addressable screen
PHYND’s Fire TV rollout extends that strategy beyond smart TVs to streaming media players that consumers can plug into existing television sets.
The service is available on supported Fire TV Stick and Fire TV Cube devices as well as Amazon’s Ember television lineup. Players can download the PHYND app from the Amazon Appstore, then use a compatible game controller or a smartphone-based virtual controller.
“PHYND was built on the belief that everyone should have access to great games, regardless of the hardware they own,” Swanston said in announcing the expansion. “Launching across Fire TV devices dramatically expands our ability to reach customers wherever they are.”
PHYND said compatible devices include the Fire TV Stick 4K, Fire TV Stick 4K Max, Fire TV Stick 4K Plus and third-generation Fire TV Cube. The service also supports Amazon Ember 2-Series, 4-Series, QLED Series and Mini-LED Series televisions.
Gaming without the console
The Fire TV launch advances a key part of the strategy Swanston outlined to Beet.TV at Cannes: eliminating the hardware and upfront costs that have traditionally limited access to premium gaming.
Swanston said in June that only about one-third of television households worldwide have a gaming console. PHYND sees the much larger installed base of connected televisions and streaming devices as an opportunity to reach people who might play games but don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars on dedicated hardware.
“Whether it’s seeing an ad, whether it’s giving you a reward or sponsored experience, we’re helping you access this game for free,” Swanston told Beet.TV.
PHYND also argues that its free-to-play model can give game developers and publishers another distribution channel outside traditional console and PC ecosystems. Advertising provides a way to subsidize access while potentially creating new sources of revenue for game makers.
Familiar games come to the big screen
PHYND’s launch catalog includes games from independent studios and publishers including Microids, Tate Multimedia, Fishing Cactus and Plug In Digital.
Titles include Smurfs Kart, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, Garfield Lasagna Party, Agatha Christie: Death on the Nile, Agatha Christie: Murder on the Orient Express, Space Adventure Cobra – The Awakening, UFO Robot Grendizer, Voodolls, Boiling Bolt and Redout: Solar Challenge.
The recognizable titles are important to PHYND’s pitch to advertisers. At Cannes, Swanston said one of the company’s goals is convincing marketers that gaming can provide the kind of premium content environment they already seek across streaming television.
PHYND is also trying to avoid inserting ads directly into gameplay. Swanston told Beet.TV that the company is focusing on formats such as pre-roll advertising and sponsored rewards that can help finance free access without interrupting players in the middle of a game.
“What you don’t want is for a brand to be considered intrusive or ruining the vibe,” Swanston said at Cannes.
From Cannes pitch to Fire TV rollout
When Beet.TV spoke with Swanston in June, PHYND had already launched on Samsung smart TVs and he identified Amazon Fire TV and LG as part of the company’s expansion plans.
The Fire TV beta now checks off another piece of that roadmap and potentially puts PHYND in front of consumers who don’t own one of its supported smart TVs.
For advertisers, the larger bet is that cloud gaming can follow a trajectory similar to connected TV advertising. Swanston, who previously founded connected TV data and advertising company Tru Optik, remembers when marketers regarded CTV as an experimental channel with questions about scale, targeting and measurement.
PHYND is betting that gaming on the television is approaching a similar transition. And with its arrival on Fire TV, more living-room screens are getting something they didn’t previously need: a Start button.
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