The current generation of consoles has been infamously tough to get a hold of. Now Microsoft is turning hard into its Xbox Cloud Gaming offering by bringing the joy of gaming to more people, even without a console.

On Thursday, Microsoft announced that together with Samsung it was bringing the Xbox app to Samsung Smart TVs. This means players will be able to stream games from the cloud to their TV with no console needed.

In order to access this service you will need Xbox Game Pass Ultimate or you can use the Xbox app to play Fortnite for free. Unfortunately, as the Samsung Smart TV app relies on the availability of Cloud Gaming, this feature won’t work in countries such as South Africa.

While Microsoft has announced that Cloud Gaming is now available in Argentina and New Zealand, it didn’t mention plans for expansion into other countries – or rather specific countries – during Thursday’s presentation. With that having been said, it is painfully apparent that Cloud Gaming is a focus for Microsoft with the idea of being able to play games anywhere on any device underpinning much of the presentation.

Of course, Microsoft does still want you to buy an Xbox if and when you can, but it’s telling that the console is usually at the tail end of a list describing the platforms one can play games.

For those in regions with Cloud Gaming and a Samsung Smart TV, the app will be rolling out in June and then all you need to do is sign-in or sign-up, connect a controller and you’re off to the races.

On that, you can sign up for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate right now and get your first three months for R15.90. Thereafter you will be paying R119 per month. This is incredible value when you consider even at full price, you can’t buy two AAA games with a year’s subscription to Game Pass.

The message from Microsoft is now in bold – we want you to play our games no matter what platform you use.

Your move Sony and Nintendo.

[Source – Xbox]