Pandora launches its first native game console app — and it’s for Xbox One

Digital radio service Pandora is finally showing some love to gamers today with the launch of a new application for the Xbox One.

Despite being one of the largest streaming music services, the company has previously opted to devote its resources to building a HTML5 web app optimized for television screens rather than develop native apps for game consoles. Considering that these devices pull double-duty as streaming-media machines, this might seem like an odd decision, but it was part of Pandora’s strategy to focus less on platforms and more on building a cohesive user experience across many devices, as VentureBeat previously reported. Also, the new native app makes lots of sense because of a huge opportunity to extend Pandora’s advertising efforts from mobile devices to the living room (via connected TVs, set-top boxes, and smart home audio systems).