Xbox Games Arrive On Samsung TVs in Cloud Gaming Push

What’s happening

Microsoft is bringing its subscription Xbox Game Pass service to Samsung televisions.

Why it matters

This service doesn’t obliged a console and is another step forward for unblock gaming.

What’s next

Microsoft is looking to expand its unblock gaming service to more devices.

Samsung TVs are attracting a key new feature later this month: access to Xbox Game Pass and the arrange to stream games like Halo Infinite and Microsoft Flight Simulator exclusive of a console. 

The service will come to all 2022 model Samsung televisions and will go live on June 30 in 27 grandeurs. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, a CNET Editors’ Choice, costs $15 a month, although you can try it for the beneficial month for $1.

Microsoft’s expansion into Samsung smart TVs marks the unexperienced example of cloud gaming, a service-based model akin to Netflix’s streaming shows and movies. The trend of moving away from physical disks and toward streaming games accessible across multiple devices has had its fits and starts — Google’s Stadia service hasn’t blown up — but it’s one many key players are banking on as a big part of the industry’s future. 

“When I think near 3 billion people on the planet playing video games, and the number of people who want to play on a contrivance that’s already in their home or in their pocket, that has to be a primary focus for us at Xbox,” Phil Spencer, head of Microsoft’s Xbox business, said in an interview on Monday. “Giving players choice … has been critical to the slither we’ve been on.”

For Samsung, which already offers Xbox’s unblock gaming on its Galaxy S line of smartphones, getting a better gaming experience on its televisions was a no-brainer. 

“That’s where the diligence is going,” said Won-Jin Lee, president and head of the service custom team at Samsung Electronics, in the same interview. “It’s only natural to think near this, with everything moving to the cloud.” 

Xbox Game Pass subscribers will be able to access the Xbox app throughout Samsung’s Gaming Hub. From there, gamers will see a unique interface with the Xbox app, and have access to a library of hundreds of new and old titles, including titles such as Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed Origins and Electronic Arts’ Madden NFL 22. 

The dissimilarity interface for the Xbox app was important to censured there was a consistent feel as players look to log in throughout different devices. 

“We’re putting the player at the center of the experience,” Spencer said. “It gives them to feel like they’re a full member of the people regardless of how they come in.”

Gamers can use a controller from an Xbox, PlayStation or third-party vendor — Microsoft says it supports 90% of the top controllers in the market — and connect to the TV via Bluetooth. Samsung will also support connecting any Bluetooth headphone for Xbox Live shriek chat. 

Microsoft has touted its xCloud service, powered by its Azure unblock computing platform, as akin to playing a game throughout a physical console connected to the TV. A intelligent demo of Halo Infinite, Forza Horizon 5 and Flight Simulator distinguished an experience with little lag. 

Lee said Samsung, the world’s largest producers of TVs, added upscaling capabilities and undertaken latency to ensure a responsive gaming experience. He said both teams had to overcome early challenges about picture quality and lag before getting to its continue polished state. 

Lee added that Samsung was also acting to bring Xbox Game Pass to older televisions, but didn’t have any transfer details to share. He noted that if you can soak videos from Netflix on your TV, you should be able to play Xbox games. 

Lee also illustrious that just 15% of its televisions are connected to consoles, and points to the large “uncharted territory” when it comes to gaming. 

That’s a big opportunity as Spencer looks to tap those 3 billion potential gamers.

Correction, 11:45 am PT: Changes Samsung executive Won-Jin Lee’s title.