Comcast’s X1 platform is indeed getting back into the game.

The cable operator has teamed with London-based TransGaming to offer more than a dozen casual gaming titles on compatible X1 set-top boxes. The new service, coming way of TransGaming’s GameTreeTV offering, began to appear on the X1 apps section late last week.

Early on, X1 has teed up more than a dozen games, including Tomb Runner, Text Twist, Solitaire, Yeti Getaway, Doodle Jump, World Poker Tour, Mahjong, Tetris, and Darts, among others. All of those games are played and controlled with the X1 remote.

Comcast’s new free gaming offering is delivered to X1 boxes via the internet, so it will be subject to the operator’s usage-based broadband data policies. Comcast has also integrated a batch of other OTT services, including Netflix, YouTube, Pandora and iHeartRadio, with its X1 platform. 

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The launch also marks a return of sorts by Comcast into gaming on the set-top box. Comcast, which had tested (and later shut down) a console-style gaming service with EA on X1 boxes, is also using those devices to offer and sell an episodic, interactive game called The Walking Dead in partnership with Telltale Games.

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Earlier this month, Comcast noted that it’s currently in the exploration phase with respect to offering casual, interactive games on X1. Consider the deployment with TransGaming to be an extension on that exploration.

In Comcast, TransGaming, a major MVPD to its list of partners. TransGaming, which has been offering games and game services with MVPD partners for more than a decade confirmed that also works with Dish Network (for its Hopper Arcade service) and is live in nine countries with Liberty Global. It also works with France’s Freebox Revolution, and offers games on Roku devices as well as connected TVs from Samsung, Vizio and Philips.

TransGaming’s GameTreeTV service currently has a library of more than 100 games, and a “very big focus on HTML5,” an official noted.

TransGaming’s business model is based on advertising and in-app purchases, as well as subscriptions and licensing deals. 

Its deal with Comcast will center on ad inventory. TransGaming said it plans to support ads for its service on Comcast’s X1 platform “very shortly.”

“Leveraging our expertise in HTML5 games and the X1 platform, TransGaming continues to push the envelope of Connected TV entertainment,” Tamir Goren, TransGaming’s CEO, said in a statement. "Games are universally loved on all platforms. We continue our focus on bringing family fun gaming direct to the living room without the hassle of purchases or downloads. In parallel we create very much needed TV advertising inventory and help TV operators to enrich their offering to subscribers and diversify their revenue streams.”

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Comcast confirmed that it and Electronic Arts will close down a beta service on April 12 that streams games to X1 set-tops and lets customers control the games via tablets and smartphones, but said the MSO remains interested in offering games via the platform.

DSL Reports was first to report that the beta trial was coming to an end. "EA pulled their financial and staffing commitment and has no intention of supporting the trial further," the report said, citing an industry source.

A Comcast spokesperson also confirmed that there is no currently plan to move forward with EA on a consumer launch, but added that "there was a lot of interest from X1 users” for the beta service, which was not available to all customers who are on X1.

"Our Xfinity Games trial was a beta that we used to experiment with gaming applications on X1.  We learned a lot and our curiosity and interest in gaming on the X1 platform remains high and we’ll continue to experiment.”

A web site with details about the trial is still active. With almost two weeks to go before the trial ends, it also remains an option when accessed via the Comcast Labs section on the X1 service.

Following tests with employees, Comcast and EA launched a consumer beta trial of the offering, called Xfinity Games powered by EA, in July 2015.

The free trial featured a batch of titles that could be streamed to IP-capable X1 boxes, including some ports of EA’s FIFA and PGA franchises and some home-grown games. Rather than running on a separate mobile app, users controlled games via a Web browser on their mobile devices, a decision that was supposed to reduce consumer friction for accessing the service.

At the time, Comcast and EA said they would use the beta to gather feedback before moving ahead on a commercial launch. An early review of the trial offering lamented its small library of titles and some lag issues.

TransGaming said it has struck an expanded its relationship with Liberty Global that enables it to bring its GameTree TV offering to boxes that power Horizon, the MSO’s IP-capable, next-gen video platform.

With the deal, GameTree TV is now offered by Liberty Global in The Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Ireland, Poland and Hungary. Earlier this month, Liberty Global announced that Horizon had surpassed the 1 million subscriber mark.

"The addition of Liberty Global is a pivotal next step towards expanding GameTree TV's services to a larger international audience," said Dennis Ensing, COO & Interim CEO at TransGaming.

ActiveVideo Networks, one of Liberty Global’s technology partners, announced a deal late last year that will enable ActiveVideo to offer titles from TransGaming via its cloud-based platform to a wide range of set-tops, including those that are not IP-enabled. 

TransGaming also has partnerships with Dish Network and DirecTV, FREE, Air Tel and Reliance.

ActiveVideo Networks has struck a deal with TransGaming that will enable ActiveVideo to offer a slate of on-demand games via its cloud-based platform to pay-TV partners worldwide.

Under the deal, ActiveVideo use its CloudTV software platform to offer GameTree TV and its set of premium games to set-top boxes and IP-connected devices. ActiveVideo claims that its CloudTV platform has already delivered more than 500 million game sessions, with engagement times in the neighborhood of 30 minutes per session.

Transgaming claims that GameTree TV already has a total addressable market of more than 60 million homes worldwide, as it’s already available through existing partnerships with Dish Network and DirecTV, FREE, Air Tel and Reliance.

The agreement with ActiveVideo should help Transgaming expand that pie. ActiveVideo said it expects operator deployments to start in early 2015, noting that its existing customers represent more than 15 million set-top boxes and connected devices. ActiveVideo’s customers include Cablevision Systems, Liberty Global, Deutsche Telekom, Charter Communications, Grande Communications and Time Warner Cable. Comcast has been working with ActiveVideo on a VOD interface trial for QAM-only boxes.

 “This strategic partnership with ActiveVideo is an important milestone in the broad scale delivery of video games through TransGaming’s GameTree TV platform since it immediately brings us many major operator opportunities,” said Vikas Gupta, CEO & President, TransGaming, in a statement.

 “With rapid evolutions in device ecosystems, fragmentation in new or existing set-tops has historically prevented pay-TV operators from monetizing gaming opportunities at scale,” added Murali Nemani, CMO, ActiveVideo. “CloudTV introduces a new paradigm that unlocks the global potential of rich HTML5 casual gaming libraries on any STB or connected device, regardless of local device resources.”