Microsoft has announced a partnership with TCL that will bring the Xbox app to the manufacturer’s smart TVs in more than 25 countries. It is the service’s first appearance on Google TV, the platform behind TCL’s main television lineup.
Playing a game will take three things — the app installed on a compatible TCL set, a supported wireless controller, and an active Xbox Game Pass subscription with cloud gaming. The app itself is free. It streams both titles from the Game Pass catalogue and games players already own.
Profiles, saves, achievements and friends lists carry over between devices automatically, Microsoft said. A game started on a console or PC can be paused and picked up on the TV exactly where it left off.
TCL is the latest manufacturer to strike a deal with Microsoft over the app. The service already runs on Samsung and Amazon Fire TV devices, and it reached Hisense sets running VIDAA earlier this year. LG went the same route in May 2025, adding the Xbox Cloud Gaming app to its Smart TVs and launching in more than 25 countries at the time.
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The TCL rollout lines up with a change in how cloud gaming is paid for. In November, Microsoft will introduce pay-as-you-go access to cloud streaming without a Game Pass subscription, aimed mainly at TV owners who do not have an Xbox console. The company is also testing a free, ad-supported tier with Xbox Insiders. Microsoft is pushing the Xbox brand beyond games as well. In late August it put up for sale the film rights to its game franchises.
Subscribers, meanwhile, are getting monthly caps on cloud playtime. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members get 15 hours a month, Premium 10 hours and Game Pass Essential 5. Anyone who needs more will have to buy extra hour packs.
Microsoft will name the exact launch dates and the list of TCL models later.
