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Samsung expands its TV cloud gaming lineup with Amazon Luna and Twitch

By Giovanni Colantonio Published June 30, 2022

Samsung has begun rolling out its new Gaming Hub on its 2022 line of smart TVs and monitors. To coincide with that launch, the company announced that Amazon Luna will be joining the service soon. Samsung Gaming Hub will also include an unexpected Twitch integration at launch.

Samsung Gaming Hub is a new feature that’ll be available on Samsung’s smart TVs and monitors going forward. It’s a dedicated hub that features several cloud gaming apps. That means that you’ll be able to play games on your TV without a console or high-end PC. You’ll just need a good enough internet connection to stream them.

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Amazon Luna is the last piece of Samsung’s puzzle as it was a notable omission in the company’s launch partner lineup. It joins services like Xbox Game Pass, GeForce Now, and Google Stadia on Samsung TVs. Though, unlike those apps, Luna won’t be available right away. Samsung only notes that the app is coming “soon.”

Luna allows players to subscribe to individual channels to access games. For instance, you can pay a monthly fee to get every Jackbox Party Pack game or sign up for a retro gaming channel. In our Amazon Luna review, we noted that the service was a bit of a niche experience compared to something like Xbox Game Pass. But its inclusion on Samsung TVs will make it easier to access for interested players.

In addition to Luna, Samsung Gaming Hub will feature Twitch support at launch. Players will be able to access the streaming platform via the hub’s experience menu, which also features Spotify and YouTube.

Samsung Gaming Hub has officially begun rolling out on 2022 Samsung smart TVs and monitors starting today.

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Giovanni Colantonio

Senior Gaming Editor

As Digital Trends' Senior Gaming Editor, Giovanni Colantonio oversees all things video games at Digital Trends. As a veteran…

Gaming

Microsoft gives Activision Blizzard cloud gaming rights to Ubisoft

Microsoft's Xbox Cloud Gaming Service Enters Beta This Week

Microsoft announced its intention to grant Ubisoft, the publisher behind series like Assassin's Creed and Far Cry, the cloud streaming rights for Activision Blizzard titles if Microsoft's acquisition of the Call of Duty publisher goes through.
This deal was made in order to appease the U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). Microsoft has not had an easy time trying to acquire Activision Blizzard as it has run into heavy resistance from regulatory bodies like the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the U.K.'s CMA. The CMA's complaints centered around the potential monopoly Microsoft could have on cloud gaming if the deal were to go through. There was speculation that Microsoft would divest its U.K. cloud gaming efforts to appease the CMA, but it has now presented this new plan that would technically make it give up control of Activision Blizzard game-streaming rights worldwide for the next 15 years.
In a blog post, Microsoft President Brad Smith explainsed that if the Activision Blizzard acquisition happens, Microsoft will give "cloud streaming rights for all current and new Activision Blizzard PC and console games released over the next 15 years" in perpetuity following a one-off payment.
Essentially, Ubisoft will be the one deciding which cloud gaming platforms and services to put Activision Blizzard games on, not Microsoft. Smith claims that this means "Microsoft will not be in a position either to release Activision Blizzard games exclusively on its own cloud streaming service -- Xbox Cloud Gaming -- or to exclusively control the licensing terms of Activision Blizzard games for rival services," and that Ubisoft will allow them to honor existing agreements with companies like Nvidia.

Ubisoft has been cloud gaming friendly over the past several years, eagerly putting its games on services like Google Stadia and Amazon Luna. With this deal, Ubisoft says it plans to bring Activision Blizzard games to its Ubisoft+ subscription service. Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick also commented on the deal, saying that he approves of the deal, but that "nothing substantially changes with the addition of this divestiture" for Activision Blizzard and its investors.
The current deadline for Microsoft's Activision Blizzard acquisition is October 18.

Gaming

Netflix is finally testing out cloud gaming on TV and browsers

Oxenfree being played via Netflix on TV and on a computer.

Netflix announced it's starting a limited beta test for streaming Netflix Games on TV and browsers starting today, beginning with the titles Oxenfree and Molehew's Mining Adventure.

Netflix has made a concerted effort to get into mobile gaming over the past couple of years, but the company has also voiced its intention to bring Netflix Games to platforms other than iOS and Android via cloud gaming. Last week, a mobile game controller app for Netflix appeared on the iOS App Store, suggesting that an announcement related to Netflix Games on TV was imminent. Now, in an August 14 blog post, Netflix confirmed it's holding limited betas to test the water for Netflix games on TV, PCs, and Macs.
Starting today, some Netflix subscribers in Canada and the U.K. will get access to a limited beta test for Netflix Games on TV. Initially, Amazon, Chromecast, LG, Nvidia Sheild, Roku, Samsung, and Walmart TVs will support Netflix Games, with more to "be added on an ongoing basis." In the coming weeks, Netflix.com will also start to allow subscribers in those regions to play games via a browser on both PC and Mac.
To start, only two games will be playable during the beta: Night School Studios' narrative adventure game Oxenfree and a new "gem-mining arcade game" called Molehew's Mining Adventure. Players will stream these games to the device Netflix is open on and can play them with a keyboard, mouse, or that Netflix Game Controller app. The blog post states that the purpose of this beta is "test our game-streaming technology and controller, and to improve the member experience over time.'
There's no word on when this beta will make its way to North America, but this does indicate that we'll only see Netflix's gaming presence ramp up in the coming months and years.

Gaming

I ditched my consoles and went to cloud gaming for a week – here’s how it went

A table holding a DualSense controller, a DualSense Backbone, a regular Backbone, and an Xbox Series X controller.

Game streaming has felt like the "next big thing" in gaming for the past decade. I recall trying out services like OnLive back in my college dorm room, playing the same 30-minute trials over and over again. Half the time the service never booted, and the half that it did was a lag-filled mess. Fast forward a couple of years and Sony acquires Gaikai to integrate into PlayStation Now (RIP), but left it largely ignored until Xbox began its push into streaming with its Xcloud initiative. With major tech giants like Google and Amazon failing to crack the game streaming code, Sony and Microsoft appear to be the only two capable of supporting this console-less method of play.

For all the fancy talk about new servers and top-of-the-line streaming technology, I've never been convinced that game streaming would be able to replace the tried and true local experience. After all, even under perfect internet conditions, the speed of light is only so fast. And assuming even most people will have perfect internet conditions itself is laughable. However, I wanted to put my money where my mouth was. How could I judge game streaming if I didn't actually give it a shot?