Return Entertainment, a Finland-based developer of a cloud-native smart TV gaming platform, said its debut game, Rivals Arena, is now available for Fire TV in the United Kingdom.
By bringing Rivals Arena to Amazon Fire TV, Return Entertainment keeps challenging conventional ways of interacting with games, making premium experiences accessible without specialized hardware. Return Entertainment’s platform lets players use their smartphones as controllers by simply scanning a QR code, bringing a new way to enjoy games in the comfort of their living rooms.
“It is great working with Amazon, with their technological ecosystem complementing our gaming innovations in ways that benefit players at every level,” said Vesa Jutila, CEO of Return Entertainment, in a statement. “AWS GPUs power our cloud infrastructure, their thinking aligns with our in-game ad monetization strategy, and the combination of Fire TV, AWS cloud services, Amazon Games Studios, and Prime Video creates an environment where our vision for accessible TV gaming comes alive.”
Jutila said in a message to GamesBeat that the firm is starting in the U.K. to test the appeal to Fire TV users and validate the monetization potential with in-game ads.
“We have a platform level integration with the PlayerWON ad network for great quality full-screen TV video ads,” he said. “Rivals Arena supports both mandatory non-skippable video interstitials and optional rewarded video ads. The rewarded ad placements have been working well with Samsung TVs where almost 50% of all ad views are rewarded (users opting in to watch more ads for in-game rewards).”
The plan is to expand to other Fire TV markets soon, he added.
Rivals Arena is a fast-paced card battler with a twist that has so far captivated audiences in the US as part of the exclusive initial launch on Samsung Smart TVs. The company said user data shows remarkable adoption rates, with 85% of players reporting that the mobile controller was easy to use and 88% saying they could start the game quickly.
Most notably, the platform is successfully reaching new gaming audiences, with 44% of users playing games on their TVs for the first time. This success demonstrates Return Entertainment’s ability to blur the lines between casual TV viewing and interactive gaming.
New monetization model for smart TV gaming
Return Entertainment has brought new monetization and performance analytics to Smart TVs with its casual gaming platform solution. Rivals Arena features integrated in-game video ads, including unskippable video interstitials and optional rewarded video ads – a first for smart TV gaming. This approach opens a new market for performance advertising with higher CPM (Cost Per Mille) potential, moving beyond traditional brand ads that dominate TV advertising without measurable effectiveness.
The platform’s monetization strategy already shows strong engagement metrics, with over 50% of players choosing to watch optional rewarded ads, adding up to an average of 10 ad views per one hour of gameplay.
Making cloud technology affordable
Rivals Arena leverages AWS spot instances, enabling Return Entertainment to significantly reduce the cost of cloud GPU usage. These spot instances – a stock of non-reserved GPU instances that can be reallocated on a short 2-minute notice –are typically priced up to 90% lower than standard on-demand instances.
“While spot instances are typically difficult to use in traditional real-time cloud gaming, our unique architecture allows our platform to handle them on the fly, reducing our cloud GPU costs even further without compromising the visual fidelity for the gameplay”, said Jutila.
Jutila said the firm has 13 people.
“AWS wants to work with partners who push the limits of what is possible with the latest cloud-based solutions. We’re thrilled to be working with Return Entertainment to extend the use of our spot instances to big-screen gaming. This is a great milestone to demonstrate how AWS can enable cost-efficient and globally scalable operations for cloud-based gaming,” said Shayan Sanyal, Global Games Industry BD Lead, Amazon Web Services.
