Here is how you can run Console-Level Games on Windows Using Cloud Gaming Tools

For the past few decades, Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo have dominated the console gaming market, presenting them as the best gaming devices available to consumers. While Nintendo has targeted fun, family-friendly games, Sony and Microsoft have always been in a constant battle, using their cache of AAA games, and pushing the limits of gaming to the maximum.

In the PC market, Windows is the only OS for the gaming community and is even preferred over consoles, thanks to the ability to have higher frame rates and gaming mods, allowing a much better level of control for pro gamers. However, not every PC can run console-level games, and for the longest time, people have been trying to invent a solution to allow every PC to play incredibly performance-intensive games; the solution; Cloud gaming.

What is Cloud Gaming?

Cloud Gaming, also known as Gaming as a Service, allows you to stream games to your computer, using an internet connection. The game itself is running on a powerful cloud server, which means you don’t need an expensive process or a graphic card that can crunch all the game graphics. Instead, all you need is a device capable of streaming (any decent computer or smartphone can work) and a strong enough internet connection, to ensure the game doesn’t lag.

Cloud Gaming is immensely promising, as a concept. However, implementing it involves solving a lot of problems with the way content is delivered over the internet to ensure there is as little lag as possible, and for that, you not only need a really strong internet connection, but the servers on which the game is hosted also need to be physically close to your location.

Here, we are listing some of the most popular cloud gaming services available today, along with how much they cost,

NVIDIA GeForce Now

NVIDIA’s offering, called GeForce Now, is available for any laptop, desktop, Mac, Shield TV, Android device, iPhone, or iPad. GeForce Now is different from other services in one major way; it doesn’t offer its own game library. You can only integrate your games from famous game clients like Steam, Epic, Uplay, and more.

The maximum resolution for GeForce now is capped at 1080p for 60 fps. GeForce is known for having good performance and very little input lag.

It comes with different membership plans – a free one with a standard rig and 1-hour session length, and a paid one for $9 per month with a premium rig and priority access. You can check out GeForce now membership pricing over here.

Amazon Luna

Amazon introduced its own gaming service, called Luna. It comes with its own gaming library and a pretty decent collection of games. It supports gaming through a web browser but also allows you to use a Luna controller, which can connect directly to the Luna servers using WiFi, offering you a much better input response compared to a normal controller.

It comes with popular games from publishers like Ubisoft, including FarCry, Riders Republic, and more. Games on Luna are streamed up to 1080p. Luna also supports a 720p option, allowing for decreased bandwidth and data usage by streaming a lower resolution without sacrificing gameplay performance.

Amazon offers a number of different plans and pricing options, some of which are free depending on your prime membership and more. You can check out their plans over here.

Google Stadia

Google launched its Stadia service with a lot of fanfare but it hasn’t gotten as much of a good response as the tech giant expected. Stadia has its own Android app and for other devices, you can use it through a web browser. It has its own games collection and you can either rent games or pay for a monthly subscription with some free titles.

Stadia supports 1080p at 60fps in its free tier but it also supports 4k at 60 fps, unlike GeForce Now. Its free tier also doesn’t have any time limit, unlike other services.

Stadia has two tiers; a free tier capped at 1080p at 60ps that lets you play a number of games for free, and you can purchase paid games to play too, paying for them separately. The Pro tier costs $9.99 per month and comes with the ability to stream games up to 4k at 60fps with 5.1 surround sound. It also gives the player access to a number of handpicked titles for free.