Xbox Game Pass "Experience" Coming to TVs

Xbox Game Pass will officially come directly to internet-connected televisions at some point in [...]

By Rollin Bishop

Xbox Game Pass will officially come directly to internet-connected televisions at some point in the near future, Xbox revealed today ahead of its E3 2021 event on Sunday, June 13th. Exactly what that might look like remains to be seen, but it's not the first time that Xbox has talked about a possible smart TV app or something of the like for Xbox and Xbox Game Pass. Xbox boss Phil Spencer previously said last November that he could see something like that happening within a year. And, well, now here we are.

"We're working with global TV manufacturers to embed the Game Pass experience directly into internet-connected TVs, so all you'll need to play is a controller," said Liz Hamren, Xbox's CVP of gaming experiences and platforms, as part of a recent media presentation. The official Xbox Wire post about the company's plans seems to boil this quote down to Xbox working with manufacturers "to embed the Xbox experience directly into internet-connected televisions with no extra hardware required except a controller."

What all of this actually looks like in practice remains unknown. There's no exact timeline or details right now beyond the fact that Xbox is actively working on it. The implication is essentially that Xbox's cloud gaming, if nothing else, will eventually come to every possible platform that could support it. After all, most internet-connected televisions could likely support a streaming app of some sort but not necessarily full Xbox downloads. In general, the company appears to be quite serious about its expansion of Xbox services as it's even working on its very own streaming devices of some sort.

The Xbox Game Pass subscription service comes in several tiers, but the basic console version is available for $9.99 a month -- as is the PC version. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate runs a little more expensive at $14.99 a month. You can check out all of our previous coverage of Xbox Game Pass right here.

What do you think of Xbox Game Pass expanding in this way? Are you excited to see what Xbox has up its collective sleeves for E3 2021? Let us know in the comments, or feel free to reach out and hit me up directly over on Twitter at @rollinbishop to talk about all things gaming!

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