A standalone Xbox app devoted to cloud gaming on TVs is apparently in the pipeline, according to Microsoft Xbox chief Phil Spencer.
“I think you’re going to see that in the next 12 months. I don’t think anything is going to stop us from doing that,” he said in an interview with The Verge.
Spencer made the comment as the video game industry expands into game streaming, which nixes the need to own expensive console hardware and instead serves up games over the internet. In Microsoft’s case, the company launched xCloud in September. But for now, it’s bundled as a free perk for the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate plan. At the same time, xCloud is only available for Android mobile devices, although the company plans to bring it to Windows PC and iOS in the future.
However, Spencer has recently been teasing the idea that xCloud will eventually come to smart TVs. Last month, he suggested it could one day arrive via an Xbox gaming dongle.
“I think you’re going to see lower priced hardware as part of our ecosystem when you think about streaming sticks and other things that somebody might want to just go plug into their TV and go play via xCloud,” Spencer said in an interview with Stratechery.
“You could imagine us even having something that we just included in the Game Pass subscription that gave you an ability to stream xCloud games to your television and buying the controller,” he added.
Spencer’s new comments to The Verge indicate xCloud’s expansion to smart TVs may come sooner rather than later. What this might mean for traditional Xbox sales will be a big question. However, the company will face some competition from Google and Amazon, which have also brought their own cloud-gaming services to smart TVs.
