Samsung is looking to boost the game-streaming ecosystem around its smart TVs with a certification program. Ahead of CES 2024 in Las Vegas, the company today unveiled Designed for Samsung Gaming Hub, which gives third-party accessory makers an official designation that their gear works with the platform. The program’s first licensed gamepad, from PDP, is available for pre-order.
Hardware partners who work with Samsung through the program will add a “Designed for Samsung Gaming Hub” badge to their products. Although Gaming Hub works with most standard Bluetooth gamepads, the company says the designation means the controller will provide the “best possible game streaming experience on Gaming Hub, regardless of the supported device players choose.” Samsung describes the label as signifying “compatibility, quality, performance, safety and security” on its devices.
However, if you already own a Bluetooth gamepad that works with Samsung Gaming Hub — and you don’t care about dedicated shortcut buttons — you should be fine sticking with that.
Samsung Gaming Hub includes a solid list of game streaming services, including Xbox Game Pass, GeForce Now, Amazon Luna, Boosteroid, Blacknut, Utomik, and Antstream Arcade. (The dearly departed Google Stadia was once on that list.) In addition, it can stream content from Spotify, Twitch and YouTube.
The first licensed gamepad from PDP is available for pre-order. The program aims to provide the best possible game streaming experience on Samsung Gaming Hub, regardless of the device players choose. The label signifies compatibility, quality, performance, safety, and security on devices. The Gaming Hub supports a variety of game streaming services, including Xbox Game Pass, GeForce Now, Amazon Luna, Boosteroid, Blacknut, Utomik, Antstream Arcade, Spotify, Twitch, and YouTube. The first hardware partner product with certification is the PDP Replay Wireless Controller, which offers up to 40 hours of battery life and a low-latency Bluetooth connection for up to 30 feet away.
