Today, Microsoft and Samsung announced Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is coming to Samsung Smart TVs in late June. Microsoft revealed in a new blog post at Xbox Wire that 2022s Samsung smart TVs would receive the Xbox app, which allows Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers to cast games straight to their TVs, without dongles or plugins, on June 30. Microsoft would not be asking gamers to plug special devices into their Samsung TVs in order to stream games via the Xbox app.
Microsoft’s app is just one of the many services to come via Samsungs new gaming hub, which is a one-stop-shop for discovering and playing games directly from Samsungs TV. Like the Microsoft app, and the Xbox app, Samsungs new Gaming Hub seems well-curated, with easy access to recently played games, a list of what is hot now, and an option to sort by genre for those craving a particular experience. It looks and feels much like Samsungs core Smart Hub, but instead of flipping through apps like Netflix and Hulu, you will be able to jump to popular gaming services like Microsofts, Nvidia’s GeForce Now, and Googles Stadia, and also jump to whatever console you have connected.
Expanding also includes Xbox Streaming Library, as well as Fortnite, which was added to the streaming service in the new Microsoft-Xbox partnership. Microsoft has also announced its Xbox Cloud Gaming service is coming to Argentina and New Zealand starting today, with gameplay demos and the ability to use Cloud Gaming to stream games beyond the Game Pass library coming to Game Pass subscribers over the coming year.
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, Microsoft’s gaming subscription service, already supports gaming PCs, non-gaming PCs, the Xbox One, the Xbox Series X/S, Android, and iOS and within months, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate will be adding Samsung smart TVs to this list. Gaming is Microsofts fourth-largest core product category, and Microsoft is looking to attract more users to its subscription-based Game Pass service, which costs $10 per month and includes a choice to let people play games on PCs and stream them through the cloud. Microsoft has said that Xbox Game Pass would come to smart TVs for some time, but according to today’s press release, the top-tier version will come straight to what appears to be nearly every Samsung model in its 2022 line-up, by this time next month.
Elsewhere, Microsoft also announced today (9th June) that it plans to launch at least five big exclusive games over the coming financial year. Microsoft is also going to be rolling out exclusive new game features to Microsoft Edge, the desktop version that is coming out soon. There will be a new personalized games homepage, that will have news, gameplay guides, live streams, gameplay highlights, tournaments, upcoming and recently released games, as well as an Xbox Cloud gaming library. Microsoft is also going to be rolling out Efficiency Mode, which will help boost game performance on Windows 10 and 11, keeping games running smoothly, by automatically reducing the use of the browser resources when the PC game is launched.
Xbox now has 372 games available to stream via the cloud, including many popular first-party and third-party titles from across the Xbox console’s four generations. Samsung will now be the only TV maker to offer a native home to Microsofts Xbox Game Pass perhaps the best and most popular on-demand gaming streaming platform with more than 25 million subscribers starting just weeks from now.