Samsung might launch its cloud game streaming service soon. However, the company might not compete directly with the likes of Amazon Luna, Microsoft Xbox Cloud, and Nvidia GeForce Now, as it appears to be taking a different approach to cloud game streaming by focusing on mobile games.
The new service is already in beta for some users, and the announcement seems to have gone under the radar.
Samsung's cloud game streaming is made for mobile phone games
According to a new report from Korea Economic Daily, Samsung will launch the beta version of its cloud game streaming service more widely later this week during the Samsung Developer Conference 2023 event. The service would reportedly be available directly within the Game Launcher app that comes pre-installed on its Galaxy phones and tablets. Unlike most other cloud game streaming services, which focus on console and PC games, Samsung's cloud gaming service is targeted towards mobile gamers. Currently, it has seven games from Playrix and Snow Print Studios.
Samsung Game Launcher cloud gaming service could be ad-supported and completely free
The South Korean firm isn't pushing Game Launcher as a subscription-based service. Instead, the company may be pushing it as an ad-supported service, similar to Samsung TV Plus, its own, completely free, ad-supported video streaming service.
Samsung already has the Gaming Hub that comes pre-installed on its smart TVs, and it aggregates content from Amazon Luna, Microsoft Xbox Cloud, Nvidia GeForce Now, and Utomik, but the Game Launcher is a completely different service, made for mobile devices. The South Korean firm may be targeting the game-install-ad revenue with its new service. Over the past few years, the need for increased privacy and restrictions on user advertisement targeting have led to reduced performance for game ads, and Samsung's cloud game streaming platform could be a remedy for the situation.
In August, Jong Hyuk Woo, Vice President of Games Services for Samsung Electronics (USA), told VentureBeat that “90% of the people who have expressed interest in a game publisher’s content, via an ad, don’t actually ever get into the game. We believe that cloud streaming can do something for mobile game publishers by completely collapsing that user acquisition funnel, getting rid of the download and installing and the visit to the App Store. It can dramatically reduce that, that funnel and the inefficiencies within that model.”
