A week ahead of their launch, Microsoft has confirmed the streaming apps that will be available on its new generation of Xbox consoles.
The company will release its Xbox Series X and Series S consoles on November 10, and announced the list of supported streamers in a blog post. The company confirmed that the big names like Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, Peacock and YouTube will be available, along with Amazon’s game streaming platform Vudu, Sky’s OTT platforms Sky Go, Now TV and Sky Ticket, and US AVODs like Tubi.
Of note as well is the addition of Apple TV, with the Xbox Series devices becoming the first ever games consoles to offer the increasingly popular app. The app has also been announced for release on the PlayStation 5, though Sony’s console will be released several days later.
One key separator for the consoles however is HBO Max, which will launch on Xbox, but was not included by Sony in its own list of console-launch streaming apps. This is unlikely the same kind of dispute had between WarnerMedia and the likes of Roku and Amazon, with HBO Max already available on PS4.
Also launching on Xbox will be YouTube TV, the cord-cutting service from the Google-owned video platform. YouTube TV will not be on PlayStation 5 at launch.
While the Xbox Series will be less oriented around video than its previous generation counterpart, Microsoft has promised to make streaming “as seamless as possible” with the addition of a new ‘entertainment block’ within the Xbox UI.