Samsung brings games to its Smart TVs with Gaikai partnership

Samsung, the largest TV manufacturer in the world, announced a deal with cloud streaming platform Gaikai to launch its Samsung Cloud Gaming service on its Smart TVs. In the coming weeks, consumers who own one of Samsung's internet-connected Smart TVs will be able to stream and play console-quality video games without needing to deal with long download times or extra hardware. Samsung will begin rolling out the service to its 2012 LED Smart TVs (Samsung 7000 series and up). Gaikai says that because its technology does not require a newer microprocessor, Samsung could activate the platform on its older Smart TVs if it wishes to. Gaikai has been aggressive in striking deals with market leaders to implement its cloud gaming network, securing partnerships with Youtube, Facebook, and Walmart.com The company's goal is to make digital game distribution ubiquitous, similar to how consumers can stream popular films from countless platforms (e.g. set-top boxes, mobile devices). In recent weeks, many outlets reported an imminent deal between Gaikai and Sony that would bring the game streaming service to PlayStation 3, but the platform holder made no such announcement during its E3 press conference on Tuesday night, and Gaikai has declined to comment on the gossip. Game industry veteran and Gaikai CEO David Perry, however, tells Gamasutra, "We've talked to all of [the console makers]. Literally all of them. I wouldn't want to be a console without cloud gaming. Let's put it that way. I think that all of them are going to need this technology." For now, Perry and Gaikai are focused on bringing console-quality titles (e.g. CD Projekt's The Witcher 2, Adhesive Games' Hawken, and Playdead's Limbo) to platforms that don't have access to them. The company previously struck a similar deal with TV manufacturer LG, but it has not yet launched that Perry says that when he talks to firms like Samsung, he asks, "Did you guys realize that Call of Duty was the biggest launch in entertainment history? And none of you participated? None of you? Not a single one? Literally all of you? Nobody participated in the biggest entertainment launch in history. Don't you think it's probably time to start changing that? "The only way you can change it is to use cloud gaming," he argues. "The only way you can put the absolute best that the game industry can make on your devices is with cloud gaming. If you want, you can put lame games on TV. You could put Call of Duty trivia or something like that, or you can put the real thing. If you do, you're going to use cloud gaming."