Xbox Is Testing Your Phone as a Controller for Smart TVs

Xbox is experimenting with two new ways to play its cloud games, and one of them does away with the controller entirely. The idea is to let players use a phone in place of a traditional gamepad when streaming games to a smart TV.

The test points to a broader push to make cloud gaming easier to start. Players who already own a phone and a TV could try Xbox games without buying extra hardware, which has long been one of the main selling points of streaming services.

The available details are limited. The report this story is based on does not lay out how widely the test is running, which TV platforms are involved, or what the second cloud option looks like. Xbox's next moves on either feature will show whether the trial becomes a regular part of its cloud service.