Samsung Electronics’ entertainment ambitions don’t stop at becoming the gateway to TV content.
At this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, the tech giant announced its foray into gaming, too, the Samsung Gaming Hub.
In this video interview with Beet.TV, SVP Sang Kim explains the big idea.
First step to cloud
“If we look back the past 10 years and what’s happened with the music industry, what’s happened with the video media industry … physical format has virtually just disappeared; we’ve all gone streaming,” Kim says.
“We think that’s what’s going happen to the video gaming industry … You just bring your game controller with you and, without buying a console, you can play video games on TV.”
“So we think this is a first step in a direction of providing a cloud gaming experience to all our users, once they just bring in their game controller.
“When new TVs come out, you’ll be able to come on and let it be your single source of platform for video gaming.”
Toward streaming
Video games were traditionally shipped on cartridges, discs or other storage media, then became downloadable, albeit via large files.
Cloud gaming, in which game elements can be revealed during play over broadband, has been mooted for years, though broadband latency remains a challenge.
Providers already in the market include Google Stadia, Nvidia GeForce Now, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, PlayStation Now and Amazon Luna.
Samsung has been watching the sector for some time.
Multi-hub approach
Samsung’s foray is notable for not replicating these efforts by becoming a cloud gaming vendor in its own right.
Rather, Samsung Gaming Hub, like SmartHub, is a discovery center for cloud games playable through existing vendors – namely, GeForce Now, Google Stadia, and Utomik, which Kim calls “partners”.
Samsung is redesigning the homepage of its TVs Smart Hub for TV partners, too. It now gives prominence to Media, Gaming Hub and Ambient modes.
“Discoverability of this great content for our users has really become a challenge,” says Kim, who says there are more than 2,000 apps in the system’s store.
“We came up with the redesign of Samsung SmartHub because there’s just so much great content that’s out there.”
You are watching “Advertising Transformation: What’s Next for Converged TV and Video,” a Beet.TV Virtual Leadership Summit presented by Mediaocean. For more videos, please visit this page.
