Microsoft is looking to get into the TV streaming market with their Xbox lineup via a new purported streaming device.
It seems that Microsoft really wants people to play their games regardless of whether they own an Xbox Series X/S. A new report (via Venturebeat) suggests Microsoft plans on releasing a streaming device similar to devices like Roku and Amazon Fire Stick. The thing that’ll make them stand apart is that the device is going to support Xbox cloud-based streaming, so one could play games available on Game Pass and/or Xbox cloud streaming.
The report notes it’s not just the physical device that they plan on releasing to get Xbox streaming into homes. There are also plans for a streaming app for Samsung TVs that would provide the same functionality. As they are working closely with Samsung to get this working on those televisions, both this and the streaming device are reportedly expected to debut within the next 12 months.
This plan appears to be in alignment with their continuing commitment to cloud based gaming, as the company recently released Fortnite among their many other titles to be available for streaming on their cloud service. This means those on iOS (where the game was delisted, leading to a legal battle between Epic Games and Apple) could play the game.
However, things have not all been fantastic for the cloud based service. A couple days ago, the service suffered an outage which prevented some users from being able to launch and play their games. Some users were even unable to make any purchases during the outage.
That said, this move is a clear indication of the company’s intentions of getting more customers onto the Xbox ecosystem. They’ve once stated that they don’t care how one gets into it, and hopes of a streaming device that is much cheaper than either an Xbox Series X/S will most assuredly get more people interested in trying out Game Pass.
What do you think of this news? Is cloud based streaming easily through your TV something you’re interested in, or are you more than happy with the hardware you got?
