Phil Spencer teases Xbox TV app plans: "I think you’re going to see that in the next 12 months"

Your next Xbox may be your TV.

Xbox boss Phil Spencer talked about the recent launch of Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S in an interview with The Verge, and he also discussed what the platform's future looks like as streaming games from the cloud becomes more and more common. In fact, you're likely to see a dedicated Xbox app start popping up on smart TVs much sooner than later.

"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.

Executives don't just throw out teases like that for no reason. Spencer is stopping just short of outright confirming that Microsoft is working on an Xbox app for Smart TVs. The company has probably already reached out to smart TV manufacturers such as LG, Samsung, and Vizio about getting the app on their respective TV operating systems if he's willing to tease that coming within the next year.

Microsoft already has cloud gaming with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate up and running on Android, so the next step would be making new versions for webOS and so on. If the only hardware you'll need to play Halo Infinite on your 4K TV is the TV itself - well, that and a controller - it's natural to wonder how much longer dedicated gaming hardware will remain necessary. But Spencer thinks the change will likely mean more sharing between local hardware and cloud streaming rather than a total pivot away from traditional consoles, depending on what is available and what makes the most sense.

"I just push back a little bit on - this is not exactly what you said - that when streaming comes, all the consoles go away, or all my local devices that play video games go away," Spencer said. "I'm not quite as sold on that. I think we just have to be nimble and watch what players want."

Phil Spencer praised the PS5 controller and the steps Sony is taking to push the industry forward in the same interview.