Microsoft is in the early phases of rolling out its xCloud streaming
service on mobile devices, but TVs are the next logical step. From a
report:In an interview with The Verge, Xbox chief Phil Spencer has
revealed we’ll likely see an Xbox app appear on smart TVs over the next
year. “I think you’re going to see that in the next 12 months,” said
Spencer, when asked about turning the Xbox into a TV app. “I don’t think
anything is going to stop us from doing that.” Spencer previously hinted
at TV streaming sticks for Microsoft’s xCloud service last month, and
this latest hint suggests we might see similar hardware or an Xbox app
for TVs during 2021. Microsoft is currently working on bringing xCloud to
the web to enable it on iOS devices, and this work would naturally allow
xCloud to expand to TVs, browsers, and elsewhere. Microsoft was
previously working on a lightweight Xbox streaming device back in 2016,
but it canceled the hardware. Microsoft has been testing the idea of
streaming and TV sticks ever since the company originally demonstrated
Halo 4 streaming from the cloud to Windows and Windows Phones all the way
back in 2013. …
