Samsung’s latest expansion of its Gaming Hub is opening the living room to a new kind of gaming – and giving GameLoop a platform built for discovery, participation and scale.
The tech giant has announced new partnerships with Volley, PHȲND and GameLoop, bringing a slate of social, TV-based games to millions of Samsung Smart TVs.
The experiences span voice-controlled trivia, puzzles and party-style games that can be played using devices people already own, including smartphones and TV remotes.
For Samsung, the move continues its push to make the smart TV an all-in-one entertainment destination – where watching, playing, and social interaction sit side by side, without the friction of consoles or downloads.
For GameLoop, it’s a chance to rethink who gaming is for.
A different way into gaming
GameLoop has been designed around a simple idea: gaming shouldn’t feel harder to access than streaming.
David Preisman, who recently joined the company after nearly 30 years working across digital and interactive TV, said the opportunity lies with audiences already spending their nights in front of the biggest screen in the house.
“I’d say we’re trying to create a new paradigm for game discovery,” Preisman told Mediaweek.
“There’s a huge audience turning on their big TVs every night, watching Netflix, watching streaming, and there’s a huge opportunity for those devices to create so much more.”
Rather than targeting hardcore gamers, GameLoop is focused on casual, social play – experiences that fit naturally into everyday viewing habits.
David Preisman
One click, no friction
Central to that strategy is removing the barriers that traditionally keep non-gamers out.
“All the games have a button, and you click one button with your remote, and you can play,” Preisman said.
“You don’t need a subscription, you don’t need a game controller or console. We’re really trying to simplify bringing higher-end cloud games, but removing the complexity.”
The aim, he said, is to make playing feel as intuitive as browsing.
“You want to play something, it should be as easy as finding something to watch.”
Solving the discovery problem
GameLoop’s TV-first approach also tackles a long-standing challenge for publishers: being seen.
“One of the biggest challenges right now for game publishers is games just being discovered. You can get completely lost in an app store,” Preisman said.
“And it’s probably really frustrating for game publishers that work so hard on these big, beautiful games to just get reduced down to an icon or an algorithm.”
Instead, GameLoop leans into what television does best – video, hosts and shared experiences – using live presenters and demos to introduce games in context.
Built for the living room
The platform also leans into live, appointment-style moments, including interactive multiplayer games such as Planet Crossword, which Preisman describes as “the world’s first multiplayer live crossword game on TV”.
“There’s something really novel about seeing yourself on TV,” he said. “There’s something really kind of special about that feedback loop.”
As GameLoop prepares to roll out on Samsung Smart TVs, Preisman sees connected TVs as an underused distribution channel for games that don’t rely on complex controls – provided discovery is done right.
“Us working really closely with Samsung and our partners in the space, assuring we have good placement in the user interface and getting that game discovery is really, really critical for us,” he said.
For now, the focus is on engagement over immediate returns.
“Ultimately, it’s revenue, but honestly, for the next year, it’s just about growing user base engagement,” Preisman said. “And then I think the monetisation will certainly follow.”
For Samsung and GameLoop alike, the bet is simple: the future of gaming may not sit in a console – but in the living room, between episodes.