The Consumer Electronics Show of 2022 will be holding its in-person event in Las Vegas, Nevada, from January 5-7, but exhibitor days for the media begin on January 3. Originally scheduled to be open to the public through January 8, CES will close one day early due to COVID concerns, and many major exhibitors have already pulled out of the event. However, more than 2,000 other companies, including Intel and Samsung, will still be on the convention floor to show off their latest technologies and products.
CES is an annual event where many of the coming year’s most exciting products are showcased, although the convention in 2021 was online only due to the coronavirus. But many major announcements came out of CES last year, including new 8K TVs, smaller screen OLED smart TVs, mobile processors, graphics cards, and more affordable 5G smartphones.
Like many companies, Samsung has gotten a head start on the official launch day of CES by releasing a press release to announce some of the new tech that consumers can expect to see at the convention this year. The company has revealed the Samsung Gaming Hub, a game streaming platform powered by Tizen, a Linux-based mobile operating system. The hub will give people easy access to some of the major game streaming services currently available — Nvidia GeForce NOW, Google Stadia, and Utomik — with more to be added in the future. The Samsung Gaming Hub will be available later this year on select Samsung Smart TV models.
Going one step further than LG’s addition of a standalone Stadia app to its smart TVs in 2021, the Samsung Gaming Hub will allow people to easily launch their cloud gaming libraries and game consoles from a single interface, although it’s not yet clear exactly which consoles can be added to the hub. The feature will be particularly convenient for people who subscribe to multiple game streaming services or own more than one console. The press release states that controllers can be paired with the Samsung Gaming Hub for a seamless experience, and a YouTube app can also be added to the interface so that people can quickly begin watching their favorite gaming channels and streamers.
One of the companies included in the Samsung Gaming Hub, Utomik, is a lesser known cloud gaming service that has been around for a few years but has flown largely under the radar. The subscription service currently offers around 1,300 games, many of which are indie titles. But Utomik subscribers will also spot some recognizable though older games as they peruse the library, including the first few Saints Row titles, Metro 2033 Redux, Darksiders 2, and the original Trails of Cold Steel game, which was released in 2013.