Microsoft is taking Xbox Game Pass cloud streaming to smart TVs, so users don't need any console

June 10, 2022: -Microsoft is unleashing an Xbox app for smart TVs that enables consumers to stream Xbox video games even if they don’t have any consoles.

On Thursday, Microsoft said it would initially bring the app to Samsung’s smart TVs in 2022 and then extend distribution to other manufacturers. The company said the app would be starting on June 30 in 27 countries. It’s a bold bet for Microsoft following Xbox’s hardware revenue that increased 92% in the previous year.

The move indicates Microsoft is concentrated on picking up revenue from gaming content and services, as opposed to just consoles, where the company is dragging behind Nintendo and Sony. Microsoft’s massive splash in gaming came when the company announced plans to purchase game publisher Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion.

Gaming is Microsoft’s fourth-biggest major product category, and the company is aiming to lure more users to its Game Pass subscription service, costing $10 a month and contains an option for people playing on PCs and streaming through the cloud.

The hardware business picked up steam in 2020 after Microsoft released its Xbox Series X and S consoles, and people spent more time playing games while offices and schools were closed due to the Covid pandemic. But component supply shortages and, more recently, lockdowns in China have hurt Microsoft’s ability to produce new consoles.

“We have taken share globally for two quarters in a row, and we are the market leader this quarter among next-gen consoles in the United States, Canada, the U.K., and Western Europe,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told analysts on a conference call in April.

But the overall picture isn’t so rosy. London-based researcher Ampere Analysis estimated that Microsoft sold 7.7 million Xbox Series S and X consoles in 2021, Sony sold 12.5 million PlayStation 5 systems, and Nintendo sold 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.

In opening up gaming off the console, Microsoft is going where gamers are playing. That means catering to mobile devices running operating systems from Apple or Google. Over 25 million Game Pass subscribers can stream games from Microsoft’s data centers onto those devices.

A year ago, Microsoft said the Xbox division was developing streaming devices for cloud gaming. The company won’t require gamers to connect special devices to Samsung televisions to stream games through the Xbox app.