Samsung has brought its Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 partnership with Activision directly into the Samsung Gaming Hub. Ahead of Call of Duty: NEXT, Samsung promoted the event in the Gaming Hub masthead, let users watch the event through the Hub, and surfaced information tied to the game’s Beta Early Access promotion.
That’s an interesting use of a TV destination that still brings cloud gaming services together. Samsung isn’t turning it into a store or game distribution platform. Instead, it’s using space it already controls on the TV to put a major game and publisher directly in front of people looking for something to play.
And this isn’t a complete reinvention of the Samsung Gaming Hub. Discovery was part of the idea from the beginning. What’s different now is how Samsung is putting that space to work with a major publisher.
Cloud Gaming Was Central to Samsung Gaming Hub From the Start
When the Samsung Gaming Hub launched in 2022, cloud gaming sat at the centre of the experience. Services including XBOX Cloud Gaming and GeForce NOW were brought together under one interface, giving people another way to start playing from a compatible TV without needing a console or PC.
But Samsung wasn’t thinking about the Gaming Hub as a simple list of streaming services. Discovery was part of the pitch too, with game recommendations and other gaming content built into the experience.
That’s important when looking at the Activision partnership today.
The Samsung Gaming Hub is already the screen you see before opening XBOX Cloud Gaming, GeForce NOW, or another supported service. Samsung controls that space, which means it can do more with it than simply point you toward whichever cloud gaming service you want to use.
Its August Gaming Hub update still puts cloud gaming at the heart of the experience. The Call of Duty campaign adds another layer to that. With Activision, Samsung used that screen to promote Modern Warfare 4 and Call of Duty: NEXT.
The Samsung Gaming Hub Became Part of the Call of Duty Campaign
Samsung’s wider Activision partnership covers displays and audio products, along with features such as HDR10+ GAMING and 32:9 ultrawide support. The Samsung Gaming Hub portion directly connects the partnership to cloud gaming.
Ahead of Call of Duty: NEXT on August 21, Samsung placed a tune-in banner in the Samsung TV Gaming Hub masthead. You could then watch the event itself through the Gaming Hub.
That’s different from simply adding another cloud gaming service. Samsung used the Gaming Hub as part of the Call of Duty promotion before you ever entered one. The partnership went a little further with the Modern Warfare 4 Beta Early Access promotion. The Samsung Gaming Hub surfaced event details and information about code availability, while the selected codes themselves were distributed through the separate Samsung Promotion app.
Those codes were for Beta Early Access from August 21 through August 25. The wider Open Beta runs from August 28 through September 1.
There is one important boundary here. Samsung confirms that Call of Duty: NEXT was available to watch through the Gaming Hub, but it doesn’t say the Modern Warfare 4 beta itself can be played through the Hub.
Even with that distinction, Samsung still used the Gaming Hub for several parts of the campaign. It handled promotion, event viewing, and access information around Modern Warfare 4.
Publisher Campaigns Can Reach Samsung TVs Through the Gaming Hub
Samsung controls something XBOX Cloud Gaming, GeForce NOW, Luna, and the other services inside the Samsung Gaming Hub don’t. It controls the screen you see before choosing one of them.
That gives Samsung another way to put a game in front of you.
Activision got prominent placement inside the Gaming Hub, and Samsung brought Call of Duty: NEXT directly onto the TV. Samsung can also surface information tied to a promotion without needing to sell or stream the game itself. That means Samsung’s role doesn’t have to stop at adding another cloud gaming service to the Gaming Hub.
We’ve been watching signs of this broader partnership push for a while. Back in March, we looked at a Strategic Partner Manager, Gaming job listing from Samsung. The role focused on growing relationships with publishers, developers, and gaming platforms, along with partner onboarding.
At the time, we were careful about what that actually told us. A job listing wasn’t proof of a new Gaming Hub feature or an unannounced publisher deal.
Now we have a real example of what that partnership push can look like.
Activision isn’t simply working with Samsung around TVs, monitors, and audio products. The Samsung Gaming Hub itself became part of the Modern Warfare 4 campaign. That doesn’t mean every publisher will get the same treatment. Call of Duty is one of gaming’s biggest franchises, and that scale matters.
What happens next will tell us much more.
If another major publisher gets placement in the Samsung Gaming Hub masthead, event viewing, launch promotion, or something similar, we’ll start to have a pattern instead of a single example. At that point, the Samsung Gaming Hub could become an increasingly important place for publishers to reach people on Samsung TVs before they even decide how they’re going to play.
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