Amazon’s Fire TV blazes ahead, adds Spotify, NFL Now, and more

By Ryan Waniata Published October 24, 2014

Claiming it has tripled its app selection since launch, Amazon dropped a barrel of new apps and games for its up-and-coming Fire TV streaming device today, including the audio streaming holy grail, Spotify, as well as PBS and PBS Kids apps, and the NFL’s new vessel for highlights and fantasy stats, NFL Now.

In all, the scrappy new streaming set-top box has brought in 19 new apps and games recently. Along with the aforementioned highlights, the full laundry list of new media apps includes A&E, History, and Lifetime apps, Fashion TV, Epic TV, Young Hollywood, Green.TV, Outside Television, and Dailymotion.

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Priding itself on a heightened focus on games, the Fire TV also added Dungeon Quest, Ninja Hero Cats, Spoiler Alert, Leo’s Fortune, The Walking Dead: A Telltale Games Series: Season 2, and The Wolf Among US: A Telltale Game Series. Amazon also said it will soon land NBA 2K15.

Since Amazon unveiled its highly-anticipated mystery box in April, the company claims it has added over 600 apps to the pile, ramping up in short order to compete in the extremely saturated genre of set top streamers. The Fire TV entered the crowded landscape well after the Apple TV, Roku, and Google’s Chromecast had already staked their claims, and it also faces competition from a host of other streaming favorites, including gaming consoles, Blu-ray players, and more.

But unlike Amazon’s Fire Phone, which, by nearly every metric has been an utter flop, the Fire TV exceeded initial sales forecasts and seems to be taking hold in the market. Thanks to a speedy processor, intuitive features like cross-platform voice activated search, and a focus on app development, the Fire TV is, at the very least, part of the streaming conversation.

In fact, the latest streaming device from Google, the Asus-made Nexus Player seems to have borrowed heavily from Amazon’s box, though with slightly lighter specs.

That’s a modicum of good news for Amazon, which is having a very bad day/month/year. The company just posted a huge loss for the third quarter, totaling $437 million according to USA Today, which is thanks in no small part to its flailing dip into the smartphone game. We’ll have to wait and see if the Fire TV will continue to gain success as the e-commerce supergiant tries to stagger back to profitability.

The Fire TV is available at Amazon

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Ryan Waniata is a multi-year veteran of the digital media industry, a lover of all things tech, audio, and TV, and a…

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