As part of CES 2022, Samsung has announced that some of its 2022 Smart TVs will be introducing a new 'Gaming Hub' feature, allowing direct access to multiple cloud gaming services with support for Xbox and PlayStation controllers.
So far, NVIDIA GeForce Now, Google Stadia and Utomik's cloud gaming service have been announced as being supported at launch, and the company says more will follow in the future. Interestingly, Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Cloud Gaming aren't part of the launch lineup, despite Samsung's close ties with Xbox in recent years.
There are various other gaming features being implemented into the hub for these "select" 2022 TVs as well, including a new version of the 'Game Bar', YouTube Gaming integration, and even NFTs.
We're still waiting on more details about a release date for the Samsung Gaming Hub along with the exact TV models it'll be available on — and hopefully we'll get clarification about Xbox Cloud Gaming in the near future as well. Of course, the Xbox bit won't really matter to those of us who own a console already, but for casual consumers and anyone who is eager to try Game Pass without access to a console, it certainly would prove a welcome addition.
What are your thoughts on this? Let us know down in the comments section below.
[source cnet.com, via theverge.com]
Comments 10
Surely this is so easy to do. I have a brand new uhd 4K tv Android tv and am actually astounded Xcloud isn’t already there tbh.
Cant see why it wouldn’t be available on any Android Tv from 2021 onwards. Shouldn’t even be an issue to run it right now.
On terms of playing Xcloud on the go, I have an IPhone but it’s just not for me. I
Handheld I stick to Switch and can’t see that changing anytime soon.
I think it's because Cloud Gaming is technically still in beta right now. Microsoft hasn't been too vocal about it in general either, probably because they don't want mainstream consumers to start using it and realising it doesn't work that well yet. I've been using Cloud Gaming a lot on Xbox One and while it's been improved since I last tried it last summer, the image still needs to be improved so that you don't constantly get screen refreshes. I've seen this happen to other people as well, so I think Microsoft just doesn't want to introduce this service and making it leave a bad taste in everyone's mouth. For those of us using it now, we know what to expect going into it and honestly, it's pretty good overall right now. There's no latency at all, the only thing that needs to improve is the image quality and I've heard Microsoft is looking into improving that soon.
On my IPad Pro it’s pretty good since they moved to Series X architecture. I think we will see much more from it in 2022. Rumours of a handheld as well and also Steam Deck but cost of Steam Deck is far too prohibitive to be a mass market success. Still think Xcloud could work on Switch. Be a win for win for all parties concerned. But it’s not happening so that’s that.
Probably because xCloud is still in BETA and not ready yet.
They also need to offer a new cheaper 'Cloud Game Pass' tier for something like this to take off once it leaves BETA.
Maybe £4.99 a month?
At the moment, you only get Cloud access with 'Game Pass Ultimate', which at £10.99, is too much if you only wanted Cloud access.
My TV is a BUSH but more than capable of having Xcloud. Stadia runs perfectly. Shame it’s a dud as it shows what cloud gaming should be.
I used to like Samsung TVs. Keyword used to. Currently have KS900. Wanted get new one last 2 years but Samsung is not supporting DTS or DTS:X. That's a straight no go.
For games and ESPECIALLY 4k movies in my library that support DTS this is must have for my home theater. Very very very very frustrating.
@jarvismp I think this could be harder than you think especially due to latency. Wifi chips on TVs were designed to stream video which can buffer X seconds ahead. You can't buffer content like this on Game Streaming. Likely they will need updated chips with game streaming in mind IF they don't already have them on older models.
This is part of the reason game streaming is so bad on the Switch, the wifi chip used is not good enough and gives terrible performance.
I’ve always went with Samsung when it comes to TVs, my KS8000 is still going strong after 5 years.
For my next tv which I’m looking at getting within the next few months is not a Samsung but a Philips, the mini-led 9636 which has absolutely everything including powerful Bowers & Wilkins speakers and Dolby Vision which Samsung are still omitting from their range and I bet they’ll still be sticking to only HDR10+ with their 2022 range. Unless there’s some amazing features included with the 2022 range, the Philips 9636 will most likely be my next tv.
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