Smart TVs from the biggest brands are getting a huge free gaming upgrade that's great for parties

One of the main benefits of cloud gaming is that as long as a device is capable enough and has a decent internet connection, you can play top-notch games on it.

The likes of Xbox Cloud Gaming and Amazon Luna are each available on Samsung's Smart TVs, for example, with the former also coming to LG sets this year. Now another cloud platform is coming too, and this time you won't need a subscription.

Jackbox Games is renowned for its adult party games, having started in the mid-90s with the superb PC quiz hit, You Don't Know Jack. In more recent times, it has released bundles of interactive party games for mainly adults to enjoy.

They have regularly allowed for multiplayer use with each participant using a smartphone or tablet to choose their answers, with the game often run from a console.

Amazon Luna has offered Jackbox's titles via the cloud too, but the publisher has decided to go it alone... and for free.

Powered by the same cloud technology as Luna, a dedicated Jackbox Games app is coming to Smart TVs from this spring. And to start with, there will be no cost to play the handful of games at launch.

They will be ad-supported but you won't have to shell out for any kind of membership.

There are plans to introduce a subscription option in time, when all of the studio's back catalogue becomes available, but that could take a while.

It's not yet known what devices or TV brands will be supported initially – it'll be available on "one or two Smart TV platforms". But, we can expect to see it roll out to a much wider selection at a later date, and maybe set-top-boxes and dongles too.

We'll keep you updated as we learn more, but considering how much fun we've had with some of Jackbox's games in the past, this could be the ideal time-waster for when friends and family come a calling.