Quick Summary
Samsung's cloud gaming technology could extend beyond phones and tablets in the foreseeable future, with a company exec telling T3 that it could even appear on the Project Moohan XR headset.
The technology might even be used for more than just games.
When Samsung announced during Gamescom last week that its own cloud gaming platform was rolling out in the UK and Germany, the company revealed that all Galaxy phone owners with the Mobile Gaming Hub installed would be able to access it. The age and capabilities of the phone are largely irrelevant.
It lead me to consider what other devices the service might expand to. Could you end up streaming the same mobile games to a Samsung TV? And how about Project Moohan, Samsung's XR headset it's currently developing with Qualcomm and Google? Could the company's cloud gaming tech be accessible in the virtual space?
Well as it turns out, Samsung has already considered exactly that. And the technology might not even be restricted to gaming.
"Project Moohan opens up a lot of interesting opportunities around content and the instant accessibility of content," I was told by Jong Hyuk Woo, Samsung's global vice president of services, developer and marketing.
"It doesn't even need to be limited to games. I think the ability to provide experiences to users instantly is going to be very important for the future of Moohan.
"We talk about the Metaverse and being able to jump from one experience to the next seamlessly, with your friends and colleagues, and not having to wait for them to download a piece of software they didn't have. I think there's a lot of applications for this sort of technology beyond what we're doing today."
Samsung's cloud gaming platform is currently restricted to select mobile games, but it means you don't need to download or install them onto your Galaxy phone or tablet. You can instantly start one and play it – as long as you have a data connection. Moohan seems an obvious next step.
Playing games on your fridge
In fact, anything with a screen is fair game – as Jong also explained, the technology is scaleable: "We have a billion plus active Galaxy device owners globally. We're the number one Smart TV manufacturer. We're manufacturing Odyssey monitors. And now you even have screens on refrigerators.
"Because we have all these screens, we believe in a future where this content will live ubiquitously and seamlessly across all of them.
"The biggest limitation today is the content itself. What content is truly cross platform? A game like Red Dead Redemption 2 or GTA plays great in the living room with a controller, but probably not on a 6-inch screen with touch controls.
"But more and more publishers we're speaking to are now thinking about cross platform as part of their game development strategies. And as content moves in that direction, with controller mapping and things like that, then we will be ready for them with our technology."
Samsung's mobile cloud gaming platform is available now in the Samsung Gaming Hub on supported Galaxy devices, in both the UK and Germany. It was rolled out in the US almost a year ago, as part of a beta test period.
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