As with last year’s CES, cloud gaming is starting off the new year with a pretty big announcement as Samsung has just announced that Google Stadia and Nvidia GeForce Now will be coming to the company’s smart TV lineup.
Update 4/4: Samsung has confirmed this functionality has not been delayed. See more in the update below.
Samsung today announced that “select” TVs in its 2022 lineup will support apps for Google Stadia and Nvidia GeForce Now for cloud gaming as a part of Samsung’s new “Gaming Hub.” Utomik will be a third cloud gaming service in that hub.
Unfortunately, it’s currently unknown if the Stadia app will support 4K. It seems unlikely that the GeForce Now one will, seeing as that resolution is currently limited solely to the Shield TV. Neither app will be pre-installed on these TVs.
Update 1/4: After this article was published, a Google spokesperson was able to confirm that Samsung’s TVs will support 4K streaming through Stadia.
The Samsung Gaming Hub will empower players to discover and jump into the games they love faster through game streaming services. Players will have access to an extensive library of games through Samsung’s partnerships with industry leaders – NVIDIA GeForce Now, Stadia and Utomik – and that’s just the beginning.
“Gaming Hub” on Samsung TVs will also support HDMI-connected consoles, with “passthrough” support for controls which, presumably, may mean that these cloud services could use the same controller as your console as The Verge brings out. PlayStation and Xbox controllers will apparently be supported at launch.
Update 3/31: As reported by FlatPanelsHD, Samsung has confirmed that it had delayed its Gaming Hub to “later this year” after previously saying the future would launch in “summer 2022.” Samsung says:
Gaming Hub is a new game streaming discovery platform that bridges hardware and software to provide a seamless player experience. No downloads required, no storage needed. Samsung also announced partnerships with leading game streaming services — NVIDIA GeForce NOW, Stadia and Utomik, with more to come — to bring their libraries of games to the Gaming Hub. The new platform will be available later this year on select 2022 Samsung Smart TV models
Update 4/4: Samsung has reached out to 9to5Google to correct that its Gaming Hub has not been delayed, saying that “summer 2022 and later this year are accurate launch statements” and that “launch timing has not changed.”
This comes just after LG brought Stadia and GeForce Now to some of its latest TVs.
Samsung’s new TVs also offer support for displaying NFTs as well as offering an “Eco Remote,” which can charge using the radio waves from your home internet router, which is frankly quite amazing.
More on Stadia:
- Google adds five Stadia Pro games for January 2022, including Darksiders III
- Stadia Changelog: A massive holiday sale, another Jackbox pack drops
- Stadia Makers program is still ongoing with ‘multiple games’ in development
Author: Ben Schoon
Source: 9TO5Google
