Microsoft has once again expanded the availability of Xbox as a platform.
As they revealed on Xbox Wire, the Xbox app is now available on specific models of LG Smart TVs. To put it simply, if the TV is at least new enough that it runs webOS 24, it’s compatible with the Xbox app. This includes select 2022 and 2023 models which have been updated to software version 23.20.01 or higher, including 2022 OLED TVs, and 2023 OLED, QNED, Nanocell, and UHD TVs.
Now LG may not be the brand that Sony or Samsung are, but don’t let that fool you. The company originally known as Lucky-Goldstar is front and center in making experimental groundbreaking TVs. For example, the LG Signature OLED T is a transparent glass like screen that turns into a TV monitor with a button press. It can also wireless connect to audio and video devices, including of course game consoles.
Another nifty looking device, the StanbyME, is a wireless TV on a floating stand with a built in battery that you can tilt and rotate. You can also easily move it around your home thanks to the five wheels at its base. Xbox says they intend to make the Xbox app work on the StanbyME as well.
For their part, LG explained what regions will be able to use the Xbox app on their TVs and where. LG has its own Gaming Portal app, which is currently available on Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkiye, UK and USA.
On the other hand, Xbox cloud gaming itself is available on Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and USA. Countries and regions that don’t have Gaming Portal may simply opt to download the Xbox App itself from the webOS store.
Of course, to get all of this to work, you will need a compatible TV, an active Game Pass Ultimate subscription, and a compatible Bluetooth controller. It’s certainly something of a luxury, but this may precisely be the pitch for upper class consumers who want to show off their insanely ostentatious Samsung and LG TVs, but aren’t really hardcore gamers.
Xbox’s parallel efforts to spread the idea of Xbox as a porous platform, while they still sell their Xbox consoles, and also sell their games on other companies’ platforms, is such a strange situation to even fathom. But they were probably making the most money out of any video game company in 2025 so far, based on the games they released and are supporting alone. That’s the reason that Microsoft can make these moves, expanding even farther than Sony’s efforts to sell PlayStation Now on their TVs.
While we still don’t know if this grand experiment will work out in the end, we can’t help but admire Xbox for committing to the idea with real money and effort. If Xbox really does change the way people think about games this way in a decade or so, it could really be the industry aikido that no one expected to work.
You can watch Xbox’s promotional video below.
