Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming

Samsung joins cloud gaming market with extremely specific service

Otto Kratky
By

Samsung recently announced that it is joining the ever-growing cloud gaming battle, although its approach to the service is likely too small-scoped to carve out any of the current market. During the Samsung Developer’s Conference 2021 keynote presentation, the company announced that it is developing its own cloud gaming platform, although it will only be available to certain TV owners.

[SDC21] Keynote

As with any other cloud gaming service, Samsung’s yet unnamed platform would let users play games without the need for high-end software, like a PS5 or Xbox Series X/S. All they would need instead is a Samsung Tizen Smart TV, various models of which have been available for years now. That being said, the TV market is massive, and the percentage of people that own that model of TV is likely a small slice of the pie.

Recommended Videos

That makes Samsung’s cloud gaming service stand out from the pack, and not in a great way. Xbox Game Pass, for instance, lets users play games over the cloud on pretty much any screen they have in their house, from phones to laptops. Google Stadia can even run on any TV or computer. Limiting its cloud gaming service to just one model of TV will make it an extremely exclusive service, one that Samsung will have to expand outside of its own tech at some point to gain any meaningful foothold.

Related

Samsung only briefly touched on its cloud gaming platform during its keynote presentation, simply announcing that it exists and is in development. It’s not clear when users will actually be able to start streaming games straight to their Samsung TVs.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Otto Kratky
Otto Kratky
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Otto Kratky is a freelance writer with many homes. You can find his work at Digital Trends, GameSpot, and Gamepur. If he's…
Netflix may bring its gaming service to TVs, with iPhones serving as controllers
The Netflix Games section.

Netflix is working on a feature that will bring its games to smart TVs and allow players to use their iPhone as a controller, reports from Bloomberg and MacRumors' Steve Moser said on Wednesday.

The move would take Netflix’s gaming service beyond only smartphones and tablets, giving subscribers more ways to play. And for iPhone owners, it also eliminates the need to buy a dedicated controller, making it more likely that people would give its games a go.

Read more
This console generation isn’t about games or hardware. It’s about services
A character stands below a ship in Starfield.

It’s been over two years since the start of the current console generation, which launched with a rocky start at the end of 2020. You'd think it's been more than long enough to understand what it's all about, but for many, there's still confusion. That might be changing this year. As Tomas Franzese wrote earlier this month, 2023 could be the year where we finally see what games define this generation’s consoles, at least in terms of exclusives. He also noted that games could stop being cross-platform, launching on just current-gen consoles instead of simultaneously on last-gen ones.

While that'll finally give us some memorable games, it doesn't bring us closer to defining the hardware itself. Besides a few extra teraflops and new ultra-fast SSDs, there isn’t much that helps the PS5 and Xbox Series X and S stand out from their predecessors. Sure, the PS5 looks like a giant spaceship, and the Xbox Series X is built like a fridge, but we didn’t know what these devices could offer that the PS4 and Xbox One couldn’t besides some pretty lighting effects and virtually non-existent loading times.

Read more
Gaming monitors have been lying to us, and it’s time they stopped
A gaming monitor playing Forza Horizon 5.

Gaming monitors are lying to us, and they have been for many years. Informed buyers know the tricks that brands play to sell the best gaming monitors, and they've learned to navigate the deceptive marketing. But these ploys persist, and 2023 is the year when monitors need to get a little more transparent.

Some of the key areas where gaming monitors mislead buyers have been running rampant for years, while others are fairly new. As we start a new year and look onto next-gen displays, consider this buying advice for picking up your next gaming display, as well as a call to arms to demand manufacturers do better.
HDR

Read more