‘The time is now for game streaming’: Q&A with Samsung head of product management for gaming Mike Lucero

By Alexander Lee

Last month, Samsung announced the upcoming launch of its Gaming Hub, a centralized discovery platform allowing Samsung smart TV users to easily access game streaming services such as Stadia, NVIDIA GeForce NOW and Utomik, in addition to livestreams and other YouTube Gaming content, in one location.

Game streaming platforms have thus far struggled to achieve mass adoption, despite steady technological improvements in recent years. Dedicated gaming devices, including both consoles and gaming PCs, remain the most popular way to play: last year, 41 percent of gamers said they used consoles, with 37 percent preferring PCs, according to a Morning Consult report.

Samsung’s Gaming Hub increases the accessibility of these game streaming services, consolidating them into a single convenient location for gamers equipped with Samsung smart TVs. It was designed with console players in mind, giving them the option to use both Xbox and PlayStation controllers with the Gaming Hub without having to re-pair their controllers to a new device. Samsung smart TV users will also be able to access games on their consoles directly from the Gaming Hub.

The emergence of the Samsung Gaming Hub could be the tipping point for the mainstream adoption of game streaming services. Whether it succeeds, it’s likely to push other smart TV manufacturers to put more resources into the gaming community. Digiday sat down with Mike Lucero, Samsung’s director of product management for gaming, to shed some light on Samsung’s plans for the Gaming Hub — and how it fits into the company’s broader strategy for the gaming space.

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

What is the Gaming Hub, and why did Samsung choose this moment to launch a gaming-focused discovery platform?

The Samsung Gaming Hub brings together world-class hardware and software that breaks down the silos that inherently exist in the gaming world right now and creates a single place that is a unified experience for gamers. We’ve made gaming a first-class citizen on our TVs by creating an experience that’s uniquely designed for them; since gaming is, after all, the number-one form of entertainment, we thought that gamers deserve to be treated that way, and they responded very well.

The time is now, for game streaming. It’s just like music and video have transformed over the years, becoming much more streaming-centric as the primary distribution means. The gaming industry is sort of reaching the same moment in time, where it’s actually been tried several times, but now it feels much more like it’s the right place at the right time. This is just the beginning; we’ve got plenty more that we’ll be announcing over the year.

How does the Gaming Hub fit into Samsung’s broader approach to the gaming community?

At the end of the day, the Samsung Gaming Hub is just one important touchpoint. Obviously, a lot of people play games on their TVs, and so it’s a pretty big canvas for gamers to engage with Samsung. As you look at the history of a 10-foot experience, it’s about pushing …read more

Source:: Digiday