Microsoft is consolidating its role as a pioneer in the field of cloud gaming. As the company has now announced, they will offer a dedicated Xbox app for Samsung 2022 smart TVs in cooperation with Samsung as early as the end of June. Hundreds of Xbox games can then be experienced there completely without a console.
Xbox app coming to for Samsung 2022 smart TVs
Gaming is meant for everyone. At least since Microsoft revamped its console division around Xbox and turned it into an in-house gaming division, the Redmond-based company has acted as a pioneer in cloud gaming.
Xbox titles can be experienced via cloud gaming on PCs, notebooks, smartphones and tablets, or on the classic Xbox Series X and Series S home consoles. Now, new Samsung smart TVs are joining the fray, as Microsoft has now revealed in a blog post.
“Our mission at Xbox is simple: we want to bring the joy of gaming and community to everyone in the world,” it says. To that end, the company has once again worked closely with longtime partner Samsung to develop the Xbox app for Samsung Smart TVs.
Starting June 30
Starting June 30, 2022, the dedicated Xbox app will be available for free on all Samsung Smart TVs of the 2022 model generation. Similar to streaming services in the style of Netflix, Disney+ and others, you simply launch the app on your TV, connect your controller via Bluetooth and you’re ready to play.
The only prerequisite is an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate membership, which can be tested for new subscribers for just 1 euro in the first month and normally costs 12.99 euros per month.
Smart TVs from Samsung will be the first to benefit. Other TV manufacturers are to follow in the near future in the “course of the further development of our vision”, Microsoft reveals. That Microsoft is blurring the lines here is also evident in terms of compatible controllers.
That’s because in addition to Xbox gamepads like the Xbox Wireless Controller, Xbox Adaptive Controller and Elite Series 2 Controller, the company is also explicitly confirming support for the DualSense controller on the Sony PlayStation 5.
What is Xbox Game Pass
In addition to the Xbox Cloud Gaming service, the subscription includes the benefits of PC Game Pass and Game Pass for consoles, as well as Xbox Live Gold membership along with Deals with Gold, Games with Gold and console multiplayer.
Xbox Game Studios titles like Forza Horizon 5, Halo: Infinite, or Bethesda’s upcoming sci-fi role-playing game Starfield will appear on Xbox Game Pass right at release and at no additional cost.
Officially, this gives you access to over 100 games, according to Microsoft, but a look at the catalog already shows 372 console and 196 PC titles playable via cloud gaming.
“We’re successively building a platform that can reach billions of gamers* – whether on console, PC or through cloud gaming. A platform where gamers* across all devices can find exactly the content they want to play,” reveals Phil Spencer, Microsoft Gaming CEO.
More news at the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase
On June 12 at 7:00 p.m. German time, the company will also hold the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase. The presentations will focus not only on new games, but also on further announcements in the Xbox gaming cosmos.
“The versatile program holds a lot of surprises for everyone,” writes Microsoft in the blog. That’s when they’ll likely give news on the optimized gaming experience on Windows 11, which includes reduced latency and technologies like Auto HDR and Variable Refresh Rates (VRR).
The Microsoft Edge browser will also be enhanced with new gaming features. These include, for example, a personalized gaming landing page with news, guides, livestreams, game highlights and much more, or the Clarity Boost, which makes games from the cloud look sharper and clearer in the browser under Windows.
