Valve announced in a post earlier this month that the Steam Link app “will no longer be available on Samsung TV after November 30, 2023.” This service allows a user to wirelessly stream his PC games from his Steam library to other devices such as TVs and phones. Launched in 2015 with the Steam Link dongle, it was discontinued in 2018 in favor of an app.
Samsung introduced the Steam Link app to its TVs in 2017, but discontinued support on new TVs after the launch of Gaming Hub, which focuses on cloud gaming services like Xbox and Nvidia GeForce Now. However, Steam says the user will be able to access the Steam Link app on his Apple TV and Android hardware such as his Nvidia Shield and Amazon Fire TV.
While the Steam Link app may have seemed like a viable dongle alternative, users had mixed experiences using the app on Samsung TVs. For example, some Samsung TV users ran into problems controlling his TV’s volume with the controller’s right thumbstick, while others reported that the app would freeze when trying to stream at resolutions higher than 1080p. It says.
Even on days when it works fine, the stream randomly freezes or crashes (despite a stable internet connection) and the input lag is unbearable, so I usually abandon the effort and reluctantly run it on my PC. Playing directly. Some days, the app randomly disconnects from your PC or refuses to load, forcing you to delete it and reinstall it on your TV. These are all issues I never experienced with the original Steam Link hardware, and it worked flawlessly every time I connected it.