Samsung Has Quietly Canceled Its Game Streaming Service

With a number of big-name companies--from Google to Nvidia to Microsoft--trying to corner the emerging game streaming market, it's not surprising that some competitors are already dropping out of the race. Samsung has announced that its PlayGalaxy Link PC-to-mobile streaming service will shut down as of March 27.

The announcement was so quiet that, despite being made on February 26, it's only been picked up by gaming and tech outlets in the last 24 hours.

The announcement doesn't provide much detail on why PlayGalaxy Link is being discontinued. "After many difficult discussions, PlayGalaxy Link will be ended on 27 March 2020 due to internal policy changes," it reads. Ending the service "will allow our Development organization to more effectively focus its resources and add value to the next release of new product."

The service launched in beta only four months ago, going largely under the radar compared to its competitors. Unlike its direct competitor SteamLink or Google's similar Stadia project, Samsung PlayGalaxy Link only supported Galaxy-branded handsets.

However Samsung has recently announced a new partnership with Microsoft aimed to deliver a "premium cloud-based game streaming experience." The partnership will have Samsung contributing to Microsoft's xCloud gaming service, though it's not yet clear what Samsung is working on in this arrangement.