Microsoft is reportedly looking to release a streaming device for its Xbox Cloud Gaming service. This could be connected to a television and thus provide access to the games that the company is streaming for Game Pass Ultimate subscribers.
The device would “look like an Amazon Fire Stick or maybe a Roku-esque puck,” set sources of Venturebeat. In addition to access to Xbox Cloud Gaming, this device would also provide ‘access to film and television services’. The device should hit the market sometime in the next 12 months.
The introduction of such a device would make it much easier to use Xbox Cloud Gaming on a television. The user still has to choose from a number of options in this area, all of which are not very accessible: using an Xbox One or newer, sideloading the Xbox app on an Android TV device, using a smartphone with HDMI output. or connecting a Windows or macOS system to the television.
In an interview with GQ reported Xbox CEO Phil Spencer said last November that Microsoft is also working with television manufacturers to get Xbox Cloud Gaming running on smart TVs. At the time, Spencer said that would become a reality “soon.” On that front, Venturebeat now reports that Xbox Cloud Gaming should also be available on Samsung TVs within 12 months. Specific models are not mentioned.
Xbox Cloud Gaming is a service that is part of the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription. That makes it possible to large selection stream Xbox games; they run on custom Xbox Series X hardware in Microsoft data centers. The images are streamed live to the user and his or her controller input is returned to the data center. This makes it possible to play Xbox games via streaming on different platforms and therefore an Xbox is no longer strictly necessary for Xbox games.