Samsung Now Selling 'Select' TVs Bundled With Xbox Game Pass Ultimate

Looks like daddy Xbox is having babies with loads of new mommys🥺

I hope the performance has improved on these TVs, I have a 2023 Samsung that includes the Xbox Cloud Gaming app and the image quality is quite low. It is probably due to the processor/wifi included in the TV, which is not capable of offering better image decoding, I have tried Xbox Cloud Gaming on other devices and it works much better, but as a first impression for someone who buys one of these TVs and trying this service for the first time is really bad.

It’s all a bit to early really, but the Xbox strategy might be get set up first and first to offer this sort of cloud gaming.
I just pray that normal full hardware home console next generation is still coming.
Cloud gaming is rubbish to me and for me.

@Pabpictu Even streaming through my Xbox that's wired to 1gb speed internet looks pretty bad there is no consistent image quality or FPS speed but has a super low buy in point now bundled with tvs and fire sticks but should be known its nothing near console quality.

The problem is if we are not ready for cloud gaming and it gets a bad press.
Then when the infrastructure is there cloud gaming has to dig itself out of bad press reviews etc.
Until the infrastructure is there and Cloud gaming is exactly the same quality in all areas to the under the tv hardware console then it’s a rubbish poor experience to me.

The only way to play cloud on Xbox that is acceptable is via GeForce now and that’s 20 quid a month.
It’s going to get to the stage where it costs 50, 60 quid for a sub.

This is the way forward. Microsoft has frequently been the most willing to go first. Once they establish a profitable business, Sony will follow. Nintendo will take several years to do the same. In the end, games won't be trapped on any one plastic box, and you'll be able to play whatever you want on whatever you want to play it on.

@armondo36 That's the dream where everyone wins hopefully it's not to far away just apps to select from and probably subscriptions to pay but hopefully better than what we are getting now

@armondo36 downfall to this (much like tv) we will need a game sub for every different publisher.

@PsBoxSwitchOwner with timed publishing deals so games will still disappear.

@OldGamer999 It's terrible you're 100% right it's kinda of a gimmick on consoles just to try out a game or if the kids want to try something new but to buy a product thinking it's going near the level of playing on consoles you will be very disappointed they are getting it out there which is good for them but not selling it right in my opinion

@OldGamer999 i agree buddy, and you know i say all the time I believe in 10 years or so cloud will be very good, to the point it’s good enough for causals playing FIFA, not us type gamers. But right now isn’t the time. I have 1000mbps internet and still cloud isn’t amazing, it works. But i prefer hardware. How many people have like 200mbps? A lot. I can’t image the are getting a great experience unless they live close to the data centers and have little to no ping. By the way the data center for Fortnite is in Dallas Texas, when i lived there ping was between 0 and 5.

If they only cared to put a small part of the budget for this cloud stuff into the advertisement of their consoles…

@HonestHick I played on my phone. With mobile data. Ping is high. But I don't lag much. Sometimes I do. But sometimes I have a good connection, and haven't noticed any lag.

@HonestHick
Not sure why they are so insistent on pushing it and spending money on it, it will end up getting cloud gaming and Xbox a bad name.
Maybe instead focus on console and GPU and game advertising and brand momentum.

It’s like they are setting up this cloud thing now and near future that no body really wants
and totally forgetting the here and now.
And if the Xbox brand outside of the USA drops of anymore they will have no brand recognition attached to cloud gaming and Xbox if and when it does ever really succeed.

i have no interest in this nor will I ever I'll stick to consoles thanks but no thanks

I've got one of those Samsung TV's, the S90c to be precise, though I've not tried Xcloud on it as both my Series X and a high end PC are hooked up to it

@Sifi
Even if I had super fast internet.
I want to play the game in its optimum condition on my top end tv and Dolby atmos set up.
So 4K, 60fps all the bells and whistles etc.
Why ever experience a came at lower levels than what it can optimally produce, when using a home hardware console by using cloud.

I can see this being a useful way of getting people into the Xbox ecosystem. If someone buys a Firestick or TV and sees this, they would be more inclined to buy a controller and try Game Pass than buy a console.

The average gamer wouldn't notice things like latency in the same way that enthusiasts would. But they may get hooked on a certain game/series or just fall in love with Xbox want more and buy a console.

I still strongly believe that Xbox will release (at least) another generation of hardware that will be part of a multi-pronged strategy including a handheld, PC and Cloud on anything with a screen and WiFi.

@Ricky-Spanish as I always say, gamers are the only Fandom that puts up with being locked out of certain content this way, and then told that it's a good thing.

@CutchuSlow thats really good. I hope it continues to improve. Cloud can be really cool if it worked great. I am not totally against it. I just don’t currently use it right now.

@OldGamer999 i think MS has already said they can’t out console Sony and the market isn’t growing and they are lagging behind and with all that i see them keeping the console alive but not making it the best it could be to be in new markets and beat Sony and others there so they can leverage having all those players in their ecosystem. It sure feels like they sell the console itself as just a thing of many things not the thing, if that made sense. So i am not sure we will ever get that type of console back from them unless they do something really clever and great with the next Xbox and players flock to it which i am just not sure if that will happen. So they are all outside the box and trying to build a huge player base of other non Xbox console owners which is smart sure, but it’s not what we want. Maybe when some of the bigger titles hit it will pick up some but the towel is thrown in on this gen and thats now 2 in a row where they are getting mopped up.

@HonestHick
It’s a strange situation to be in.
Numbers just in and posted.
They up 44% on revenue
Dropped 42% on hardware

My issue with Xbox is not the series x and now and this and next year’s games or GPU.

It’s the next hardware generation and if they produce a full in home under the tv console.
Or don’t bother at all or go some cloud hybrid machine then the series x will be my last Xbox console.

Now Xbox could say well you still have access to all your games on our new cloud streaming service or hybrid machine but of course as per cloud they will run worse than on my current series x. Then when my series x dies or stops support for it I have no full top end under the tv hardware to play my Xbox or third party games on
To the best they can be.

With Sony and Nintendo you are as best as going to get full on next generation under the tv hardware which is what I want to get the full best experience for my games.

It’s why my PS5 is now my third party games machine and not my series x anymore.
It’s not for now it’s because I don’t trust Microsoft future hardware intent or what it might end up being.

Are they bundling a controller in with the tv's, if not they're really missing a trick. Give people everything they need and all they have to do is pay the subscription and they will gain a lot more traction on this.

@MjJmediablogger The thing where that won't matter as much is IDK about UK and EU but in the US the average American is accustomed to $150-200 cable tv bills so $50 doesn't seem as weird. Which is bad. And I've never paid that....

@OldGamer999 yeah makes sense, but i don’t think they try all cloud yet. Not on a machine now AI for sure thats almost confirmed at this point. But not cloud. Rumors are there about the surface team helping out and making it more of a pc under the tv like NES has been saying. You would be able to load your steam library and of course Xbox games and it could be a huge library of support. If that happens it could be cool. But yes i agree we know for sure what PS6 and Switch 2 will be at thier core that is. We don’t know specs and other stuff of course. But it will play games mostly if not exactly the way they do now and that is appealing to myself as well as you.

And then corporate MS acts so “worried” that Xbox hardware sales have gone down 42% compared to the same quarter last year.

Their play of slowly getting rid of hardware is so obvious and deceitful…

@IOI they’re already considering putting some of their games on playstation

While good I do think the lack of other TV support is a bit questionable. Why 'play anywhere' when it's still down to TV maker deals. It's 'play but only those we have deals with WHERE', doesn't roll off the tongue as well. Yes yes anywhere of multiple devices with a screen but still.

Like Samsung or Amazon. That does limit things. I have no issues as have a Samsung TV that's compatible with it and also don't care to use it as prefer consoles but still. It's no 3D TV confusion of Anaglyph/Stereoscopic or prices being high and not strong enough reason of a feature for people to want to when this is a optional thing or a more 'entry access' thing then a side feature of 3D glasses mode and how well games offer it but even still.

It's like Stadia with only Pixel phones. Or in a different case the older Chrome Cast because they cancelled Stadia.

Or Vita before it was all phones and third party apps were the only way prior. The messaging speaks for itself even if I don't mind getting what's compatible.

That aside why have hard drive upgraded consoles and go 'eh this marketing is enough for hardcore that will buy them', not really push games that well upcoming sometimes whether Indies (same reason why didn't XCOM/Civ Rev 2 the mobile games or any of the Japanese games or key Indies on Vita get advertised, I know LAZINESS or too expensive, because LAZINESS to scale them well enough) but casuals yep pull the TV/phone/Gamepass ads because reasons. Sigh.

Some are so bad I can't even think of anything to say about them they are forgettable and seeing as seen the old Paul's Milk from 20 years ago ad (not memorable for what it was intended for, also 'smart choice' removed and just WOW REPEATING EXACTLY WHAT SHE SAID GREAT MARKETING GUYS of full cream/low fat milk, like come on) or others but tweaked, that's saying something when the more memorable ones are better, then the more memorable because it was so simple, or so forgettable because they aren't great.

They need better ads, I barely see them or they are forgettable so why would us hard core if we do see them mention them to casuals and spread the word of Xbox. XD

@armondo36 ahh yes exactly like how when Netflix originally came out and all companies banded together in this utopia where we were no longer trapped, and had access to every film, every series all for the low price of one single subscription. /s

Instead of being trapped on 1 plastic box you will be trapped on a subscription service where you only have access to a handful of games whilst 5 other subscription services offer the same at an ever increasing value whilst the value offered decreases. Its already happening, it won't get better. its only going to get worse.

The idea of having all your games in one place via the cloud is pure fantasy. Like TV you're going to need several different subscriptions to access all the best content.

You think gaming is expensive now? Well, you people have not even begun to scratch the surface of just how expensive gaming will become long term.

Cheerleading for these gaming subscription services because at the start you "saved a few quid" doesn't look too great now, does it...

For myself, giving the amount of a
abuse I've received from Game Pass cheerleaders in the past I can't say I've much in the way of sympathy for the gaming community. Actually none at all. You brought this upon yourselves. 🤷

@OldGamer999 Nobody really wanted to access their Music or their TV/Movies via the Internet either but now that is the most popular way people do access those media today.

The most 'popular' device for gaming is the Mobile Phone - whether you consider the 'games' it offers as 'worthwhile' games that compete with the best Console/PC games or not, they are still games.

Part of the 'success' of Netflix, Spotify etc is the fact that you don't need 'specific' hardware, that you can access your content on any device. You don't need a walkman, a stereo Hi-fi system, a TV, a VHS/DVD/Bluray player etc - your 'Phone' can be all of those. Now imagine if you can take your gaming Library with you, play on 'any' device...

The 'infrastructure' for Streaming movies via Netflix for example wasn't in place when Netflix first launched 'streaming'. Many places were still on Dial-up with not enough download speed to watch without buffering. You may not 'enjoy' watching movies on your Phone because its too small a screen size for example, but its that flexibility to watch 'anywhere', not just in your Living Room on a TV that has transformed other Media. First it was Music, with MP3's, then TV/Movies as the infrastructure improved - and that includes Mobile internet - 3G, 4G, 5G...

Today, there is still some that prefer to buy Music on CD or Vinyl, some that still buy DVD's/Blurays too, so I don't think dedicated Gaming hardware will 'disappear', but I do think that Streaming will be where 'most' will access their games in the near future. MS want to target Mobiles/mobile devices because 'everyone' has one and its the most popular device for the 'majority' of Gamers - even if most play CandyCrush style games on it...

Us 'old' gamers are not the 'future' and whilst we maybe reluctant to change from 'Hardware' to a more flexible and versatile streaming solution, which, like the early days of 'streaming' TV/Movies with buffering issues, streaming compression etc that TV/Film buffs would use as reasons not to 'stream' or 'infrastructure' not there yet in their 'village' to consider Streaming TV/Movies, it will likely be more popular than 'hardware' based Gaming - although I still expect Hardware to be an option too.

when I first heard of xcloud i kinda liked it, but after trying it, I hate it. While I get it that they are working towards getting it better, I am not a fan of paying to be a beta tester.

I have a fiber connection at home and cabled console, but xcloud on it is super laggy, image quality varies a lot, and if I want to play say, around 6pm, good luck getting a spot. I pity the fool that buys this tv and thinks that they are getting a deal because they don't need a console to play.

@Ilyn how are you trapped? Let's say you want to play Starfield but you only have a PS5 and a PC. There is an easy, straightforward way to do that without having to buy an xbox. You want to watch a movie, you COULD always just buy it. You aren't required to buy new hardware every time you want to watch a TV show. AND, it's perfectly doable to buy any of these services for a month to watch whatever you want to. You aren't trapped at all lol. The future is that you'll be able to play whatever game you want without having to buy multiple boxes.

@armondo36 As I explained you are trapped because if consoles are gone then you are not going to have every publisher making games choose 1 single streaming platform. Its wishful thinking to imagine them all banding together to offer you all the games for the low price of 1 subscription. It will go exactly the same way as TV with a service for each publisher all charging £20+ a month.

And if you think companies will will make it easy to swap between them for a month at a time flipping back and forth based on new releases then you are very naive. People are for the most part lazy, and companies make it frustrating to unsub because they don't want you to leave. Mix that in with the fact that companies would hide everything behind premium tiers and you would find it a bleak future where you are paying way over the odds for a worse service.

Also you have to factor in paying more for the premium fibre to run all this well, because in the UK that would be costly. Sure you would be able to access everything from your TV, but the costs would spiral rapidly.

@Ilyn @Ilyn "frustrating to unsubscribe" is subjective. If you're too lazy to do that, then you aren't trapped, you're too lazy to do something. Consoles aren't likely to go away anytime soon. They will most likely provide a premium experience for people who want to play with the highest specs short of a pc. This is ALREADY HAPPENING. the vast majority of people in Xbox's ecosystem aren't playing on a console. The variety of services are choice. Having to own a certain console in order to play a certain game? that's much closer to being trapped.