Just connect your gaming PC and TV to your home network, visit the Samsung Smart Hub to grab the free beta build of the Steam Link app, and voila: your Steam library is accessible on your telly. If you live in the US, have a Steam Controller and a 2016 or 2017 UHD Samsung smart TV, you can try this out right now. That's right: Steam Link is ditching its limited physical form and manifesting in the world as an enlightened official app instead. It essentially allows you to access your Steam account from the comfort of your couch, without having to drag your gaming PC out to the living room or lay extension cables through the house.Īs convenient as Steam Link is it's about to get even better, as Valve and Samsung have teamed up to eliminate the hardware step in the middle. Steam Link, for those not in the know, is a little set top box you can plug into your TV in order to quickly and easily stream Steam games over your home network. And remember that an ethernet connection will offer better performance, naturally.Steam Link, without the extra hardware? I'm listening. If you own one of Samsung's 4k TVs and want to give the app a try, just download it from Samsung's app store (it's not available to everyone yet) make sure your PC and television are on the same network. And it's worth remembering this is a beta app, so it should improve and add better wireless controller support with future iterations. He did discover some issues with the wireless Steam Controller, but found plugging in a wired Xbox 360 controller worked fine. PC Gamer's Wes Fenlon tried out the app and found it to work essentially as well as the Steam Link hardware.

It may be limited to 1080p and 60fps, but for just $50 it's a better alternative to one of Valve's own Steam Machines. While it's not always perfect, the Steam Link is one of the best ways to stream PC games to a big screen living room TV using a wired or wireless network. While it was originally assumed Samsung would be integrating the Steam Link hardware inside its new TVs, the use of an app means those who already own its 2016/2017 4K televisions can use the functions. Now, a beta version of the app has finally arrived. Last October brought news that Samsung would be adding Valve's Steam Link functionality into its high-end televisions, meaning those who wanted to stream their Big Picture PC games straight to another TV wouldn't need the tiny box.

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