Xbox could become an app on your smart TV in the near future, letting you stream games in a similar way to Netflix.
Xbox chief Phil Spencer has said an interview with The Verge that an Xbox smart TV app could become a reality "within 12 months", which means you wouldn't need a home console like the Xbox Series X to play the best Xbox games.
During the interview, Spencer was asked if anything is stopping Microsoft from making an Xbox app which would run on TVs, complete with a minimum hardware spec which would work in a similar way to how Google Stadia or Microsoft's xCloud mobile gaming works.
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"I think you’re going to see that in the next 12 months. I don’t think anything is going to stop us from doing that," Spencer said.
He went on to explain the possibility of this becoming a reality "a TV is really more of a game console stuffed behind a screen that has an app platform and a Bluetooth stack and a streaming capability."
Xbox TV stick
Earlier this year Spencer was quoted in another interview saying that he wanted to bring in a new tier to Xbox Game Pass which would come with a streaming USB stick, like the Amazon Fire Stick, which you'd plug it into your TV to play xCloud games through it.
"What I’m saying is the amount of computing capability in my home has increased with the number of streaming signals that have come in, not decreased. I think gaming will be one of those things as well," Spencer said.
Spencer also talked about the importance of Xbox Game Pass and how he hopes it will one day be completely dominated by third-party games.
Spencer said, "Game Pass relies on third-party content. I want it to be that way. I want our third parties to have success. I think about Game Pass as a platform. It’s not just a subscription on a platform. I want third parties to see the distribution and monetization capability of Game Pass as something that is accretive to their business and important to them."
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