Samsung rebrands the Game Launcher on its phones to Gaming Hub

Samsung has an app called “Game Launcher” on its phones and a “Gaming Hub” on its smart displays (everything from smart TVs to projectors). This is a bit confusing since the two are basically the same app – and now they will have the same name.
Samsung announced that it is rebranding the Launcher to Gaming Hub. Nothing will change but the shortcut used to launch the app.

The Gaming Hub was first introduced in 2022 and allows you to connect a wireless controller to the display and use the popular game streaming services. Samsung even has its own service called “Instant Plays” – no download or installation required, just hit play.

As the press release notes, Instant Plays is available on the mobile Gaming Hub too. But that’s hardly new – it has been around since at least 2022. To be fair, the feature is still in beta after all that time. And if you haven’t heard of Instant Plays before, it’s likely because of the limited availability – the feature is available only in the US and Canada.

There is something for game developers too, from the press release: “Samsung’s cloud platform supports Android native APKs, provides a cloud-based attribution solution with major mobile measurement partner (MMP) providers, and supports existing in-game monetization models for a seamless fit with game publishers’ current operations”.
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Reader comments
- ThankGodItsFriday
- 23 Mar 2024
- TeD
Wait, I thought this was already a thing? I've had Gaming Hub for some time, now.
- 404
- 23 Mar 2024
- txE
You can actually, and not just games, it also works for ANY APP. I've tried the same method on my Xiaomi, and it works as the same as the Samsung one.