People will be able to play Xbox Game Pass games via a cloud connection on Samsung’s 2022 smart TVs.
Microsoft
Microsoft is launching an Xbox app for smart TVs that allows users to stream Xbox video games even if they don’t have consoles.
Microsoft said on Thursday it would first bring the Samsung smart TV app for 2022, and then expand it to other manufacturers. This is a bold bet for Microsoft after revenue from Xbox hardware jumped 92% last year. The company said the app will be available from June 30 in 27 countries.
This move shows that Microsoft is focused on collecting revenue from gaming content and services, as opposed to just consoles, where the company lags behind Nintendo and Sony. Microsoft’s biggest clash in gaming came earlier this year, when the company announced plans to buy game publisher Activision Blizzard for $ 68.7 billion.
Games are Microsoft’s fourth largest product category, and the company aims to attract more users to its $ 10 a month Game Pass subscription, which includes an option for people who play on computers and stream through the cloud.
The hardware business gained momentum in 2020 after Microsoft released its Xbox Series X and S consoles and as people spent more time playing games while offices and schools were closed due to the Covid pandemic. But the shortage of component supplies and the recent blockade in China have damaged Microsoft’s ability to produce new consoles.
“We have taken a global share for two consecutive quarters and this quarter we are the market leader among next-generation consoles in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Western Europe,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadela told analysts during a conference call. in April.
But the overall picture is not so rosy. London-based researcher Ampere Analysis estimates that Microsoft will sell 7.7 million Xbox Series S and X consoles in 2021, while Sony will sell 12.5 million PlayStation 5 systems and Nintendo will sell 24.3 million switches.
Gamers will be able to play the Xbox app with Sony’s Bluetooth-connected DualSense controllers as well as Microsoft’s wireless Xbox controllers.
By opening games out of the console, Microsoft goes where gamers play. This means servicing mobile devices running Apple or Google operating systems. More than 25 million Game Pass subscribers can stream games from Microsoft data centers to these devices.
A year ago, Microsoft said the Xbox division was developing streaming devices for cloud games. The company will not require gamers to connect special devices to Samsung TVs to stream games via the Xbox app.
“We have decided to deviate from the current iteration” of a streaming device codenamed Keystone, a Microsoft spokesman told CNBC in an email. “We will take our knowledge and refocus our efforts on a new approach that will allow us to provide Xbox Cloud Gaming to more players around the world in the future.”
Samsung leads the smart TV market with a 21.3% share, according to information technology subsidiary Informa Tech Omdia.
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