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One of the things that was keping the media atwitter with the Xbox One nearing its launch was the continued absence of YouTube on the list of supported media partners. The streaming video service had an app on the Xbox 360, but for some reason, Microsoft didn’t include YouTube in its list of entertainment apps that would be launching with the console.

xbox2For whatever reason, that list wasn’t complete. According to announcements on the Official YouTube Blog and Xbox Wire today, it will be possible to watch adorable cat videos natively on your Xbox One on launch day. With the app, you’ll be able to watch YouTube, complete with voice controls, and the ability to use gestures to move from one video to the next, thanks to Kinect. The app doesn’t currently support Snap, so you won’t be able to watch videos while you game, but the companies say that they’re working on adding that functionality to future versions of the app.

With Google and Microsoft still fighting over the YouTube app for Windows Phone, an Xbox One without support for the popular video sharing site seemed like a definite possibility. But it seems like the two companies have worked things out enough to keep YouTube on the Xbox, at least for the time being.

We’ve reached out to both companies for an explanation as to why it took this long to announce that YouTube was coming to the Xbox One, and will update this post when we hear back.

Previously on GeekWire

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