Amazon announced today that it has expanded its gaming catalog for the Fire TV and Kindle Fire to include “Grand Theft Auto 3,” “GTA: Vice City” and “GTA: San Andreas,” three older games from Rockstar’s popular series.
Those three offerings from the popular series of open-world criminal activity games have already appeared on Android and iOS, but add further depth to the gaming capabilities of the Fire TV, which Amazon pitches as a game console in addition to its video streaming capabilities. It’s facing an uphill battle with hardcore gamers, though, who typically gravitate towards top-of-the-line consoles, or powerful gaming PCs.
Right now, Amazon is offering anyone who buys GTA: San Andreas 2,000 Amazon Coins (worth $20), which users can spend on completing the trilogy of games, and still have 1000 coins left over to spend on other apps through Amazon’s AppStore.
In addition to the three GTA games, Amazon is also trying to court gamers with a new Twitch app for the Fire TV. The app will allow users to watch streaming video of people playing games live, though it won’t offer users the ability to stream games from the Fire TV like they could with the PS4 or Xbox One.
It will be interesting to see if Amazon plans to do any advertising to back up this new gamer-oriented push. After all, getting to see Fire TV pitchman Gary Busey playing Grand Theft Auto sounds hilarious.
