In September, Microsoft launched its Xbox game streaming service for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers. While the idea behind what was originally called Project xCloud was to bring games to all of your devices via the cloud - especially devices that couldn"t run the games natively - it"s still only available for Android phones and tablets. The company did test it out for iOS, although that got shut down due to Apple"s restrictions. It also promised to deliver it on Windows 10 in 2020, but hasn"t done so yet.
According to an interview with The Verge, Xbox chief Phil Spencer talked about a new target: smart TVs. Not only that, but Spencer said that we"ll likely see game streaming show up on smart TV platforms within the next 12 months.
For some, this eliminates the need for a gaming console. Smart TVs aren"t known for their processing power - quite the opposite, actually - but with all of the compute going on in the cloud, you could just download the app and start gaming. Presumably, you"ll pair your controller with the TV via Bluetooth.
Microsoft is still working on other platforms though. It"s still trying to move forward with iOS by using a web-based system, and the Windows 10 app is in the Store, even if you can"t really use it. With game streaming coming to smart TVs, it wouldn"t be surprising if set-top boxes weren"t far behind, although Apple TV is in the same boat as iOS.