Samsung TVs are getting their own exclusive games

digitaltrends.com:

Samsung announced two new video games for its TVs at the IAB NewFronts 2024 event that won’t require a controller to be played.

The tech company has been making a concerted push into the gaming space for the past several years with its TVs, namely by accommodating cloud gaming services like Xbox Game Pass and approving certain video game controller peripherals. Now, it wants to offer up exclusive games on its own TVs that don’t require a traditional game controller to play.

The first is titled Rivals Arena, which Samsung describes as “a cinematic card game” that people can play through their smartphones after scanning a QR code on the screen. It’s developed by a studio called Return Entertainment. While Samsung hasn’t released any official images of Rivals Arena yet, this image from Return Entertainment’s website outlines how Rivals Arena likely works.

Next up is a game titled The Six, which Samsung says is an “interactive trivia game built directly into a Samsung Connected device.” Unlike Rivals Arena, players will be able to control The Six with a TV remote. While don’t know much else about Rivals Arena or The Six at this time, Samsung is already outlining how it plans to sell ads in these games. They were announced at an advertising bureau conference, after all.

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With Rivals Arena, ads will play “in-between gameplay.” Samsung says it will let advertisers co-brand the entirety of both games as well and intends to gamify ads on Samsung TV Plus by making them more interactive. Rivals Arena and The Six will both be released later this year.