10 Influential Cloud Gaming Platforms of 2021

The cloud gaming niche is becoming popular for the same reasons services like Netlflix, Hulu and YouTube also are: the user only requires access to the internet to enjoy gaming technology and services.

But although cloud gaming services have the benefit of being easy to use and available to anyone, it still requires a high-speed internet connection, which can be a barrier for users that live in areas with no access to a high-speed connection.

10 Cloud Gaming Services

There are many cloud gaming services available at the market and choosing the best one can be confusing or time consuming. So, below we’ll list 10 leading cloud gaming services.

The Google Stadia cloud gaming service is supported on any device that runs the Google Chrome browser. But Google Stadia works differently from most services as the user needs to buy every game he wants to stream, instead of paying a subscription or a monthly fee.

Google Stadia

Some insights about Google Stadia:

  • Google Stadia offers a 4K video quality with 60fps with Chromecast.
  • The service offers ˜Crowd Play” in which the viewers of a live stream can join a game.
  • Google Stadia has a little audio lag when played from a PC, but almost zero problems and delays when played from a good console.

Steam cloud gaming service is one of the most popular ones around. It was released in 2015 and since then is considered one of the best cloud gaming services.

Cloud Gaming sSteam

Their hardware alone can stream high-quality content from a PC, Steam machine, and Steam gamepad.

Some insights about Steam:

  • Although it’s a beta program on the Android system, it runs extremely well on any IOS 11 or higher on Apple devices.
  • Free of monthly charges.
  • Users can play at 4k/ 60fps

Gog, which was previously called Good Old Games, delivers the DRM-free games for users for Microsoft Windows, macOS and Linux. Gog has a “you buy it you own it” policy for their games, which are curated from the most popular to indie games.

Gog Gaming

Some insights about Gog:

  • The DRM-free games means that after purchasing the game the user owns it. Gog won’t lock the titles from users.
  • There’s no need to install anything or download specific softwares to run the games

Playstation Now was the first cloud gaming service provider to be developed back in 2014 by Sony and it only keeps growing. They work with a monthly subscription fee and the user has access to all the games on their library.

Playstation Now

Some insights about Playstation Now:

  • Sony recommends users to have an internet connection of at least 5mbps so their experience is good.
  • The annual plan starts at $59.99, making it much cheaper than their monthly subscription.
  • 7 day free trial period for the user to test before making the subscription
  • There’s no need for a high-speed PC, only a good internet connection.
  • Surround sound and 720p quality of videos.

The Windows cloud gaming service is called Microsoft Xbox Game Pass and is a platform in which game developers and IT professionals can use to build, deploy and manage their application on a data center developed by Microsoft.

Xbox Game Pass

Some insights about Microsoft Azure:

  • 12 months free of charges for a limited list of features. If the user uses a feature off the list he pays only for it.
  • The Azure Traffic Manager automatically connects the user to the best regional zone to avoid lags and delays.

Some people consider that Geforce is the most efficient cloud gaming service. It has an ultra streaming platform so users can play with non-interruption and lowering latency. The user can play from a PC, Mac, Shield TV and other devices. The subscription price is only $8 a month.

GeForce

Some insights about Geforce Now:

  • Extremely cost friendly with around 400 titles in total.
  • Users can stream games for four hours at a stretch with no problems on the quality.
  • They offer now the Ultra Streaming with 4k streaming at 60fps.

Blacknut cloud game service offers around 200 games with a monthly subscription of $12.99 per month. They are trying to build a service like netflix for families that want to get into cloud gaming.

Blacknut

Some insights about Blacknut:

  • Blacknut has parental control to try to be as family friendly as possible.
  • Users can receive a two-week free trial period

Users consider Vortex the first step for getting into online cloud games. With a $9.99 monthly subscription fee, their games run super well on Android and iOS devices.

Vortex

Some insights about Vortex:

  • Extremely friendly for new users. The signup process takes only a few minutes.
  • It offers 50 hours of game playing per month for the price of $9.99
  • Doesn’t require a high-speed computer as it runs on browsers

Founded in 2014 and expanded in 2016, Paperspace is also a popular cloud gaming service among the users. They partnered with Parsec to create this pay per use platform.

Paperspace

Some insights about Vortex:

  • It’s a secure platform and runs on encrypted channels with VPN to VPN.
  • Perfect platform for machine learning as it has a promising consumer data pipeline.

Shdow is a cloud gaming service developed by Blade around 2014. Their games are remotely executed based on Window 10 serves.

Shadow Gaming

Opposite to the other popular cloud gaming services that are limited to video games, Shdow provides remote access to a PC infrastructure.

Some insights about Shdow:

  • It has a monthly subscription fee of $14.99 or $11.99 per month if users sign the 12-month plan.
  • It’s extremely flexible as the user is working with a Windows 10.

By Gary Bernstein