Don’t surprise anyone: Xbox Game Pass wants to step into your living room without having to own an Xbox console. Announced by Phil Spencer in late 2020, the Android TV application would have done well, according to 9to5Google. At the moment the application is not officially compatible with Android TVs, although it is possible to launch it from your smartphone (like any other Android application).
This solution therefore allows Xbox Game Pass to be accessed from your TV, but it introduces significant delays that make the experience very average. From now on it would be possible to see the application icon when it is “sideloaded” (manually installed with a few operations and not directly via the Play Store integrated in Android TV). This addition proves that there is something new in this application as Android TV needs specific code to be implemented in order to see this icon.
However, there is still a long way to go before official compatibility with Android TVs is achieved. In fact, the experience is still very flawed and the user interface is still not suitable for touchless controls. In addition, the game’s video stream “freezes” immediately when it starts.
We’re still a long way from getting out of there, but these additions show, we hope, encouraging progress to arrive by the end of the year.
