– Cloud Gaming at its Best
Gaming has been at the forefront of many industries, and games such as Mario and Counter-Strike have shaped most of our childhoods, and getting them to be portable has become a possibility. With a rise in the mobile game era, 100% of gamers have been looking to get their PC games on mobile.
However, we’ve been plagued with limiting game titles on mobile and are stuck with PC gaming as our default choice, but what if I tell you that you can play all your PCC titles on your tablet and phone. What if most PC games can be streamed on your Android and iOS devices without the need to physically owning the game? Well, I’ve got the perfect solution for you. Stay with us through the end to find out how you can take all your PC games and play them anywhere on your mobile device.
How do Game Streaming works?
Gaming requires a decent amount of processing power, and getting that will be expensive. Most new consoles start at more than $300, and PCs can easily cost a thousand dollars. However, there’s also an inexpensive alternative that’s slowly picking up Steam.
Game streaming lets you play all your PC games on tablets and mobile, and it works by processing everything on a server somewhere else in the world. Streaming your games gives you access to loads of titles and enough gaming power for a monthly fee. All you will be needing is a mobile device to play them on. Whether it may be Android or iOS, everything works, and we’re here to walk you through everything that you should know and understand about these services, what the cost is, and which are the best ones that we’ve tested so far.
Streaming vs. Conventional Gaming
Streaming, as discussed earlier, is a way of playing PC games on your mobile device. The processing is done at a server or through your PC and then streamed through an active internet connection. This might sound perfect in theory but has real-world problems that can destroy the experience. Let’s look at some of the pros and cons of streaming a game so that you can decide if streaming is viable for you.
Pros:
- Doesn’t need a PC to run
- Affordable and accessible to everyone with a mobile phone or tablet
- 60 FPS gaming through all PC titles
Cons:
- Requires an active high-speed internet connection
- It is more expensive in the long run
- Games can take a little longer to be available or launched
Conventional PC gaming is at the opposite end of streaming and is accessible to anyone with a PC. Well, it also hugely dependent on what kind of performance your PC can deliver. Not all games are built equal and require a different amount of processing power to run. GTA 5 may run on a decently built PC, but Cyberpunk 2077 may not, as its graphical requirements are additional. So let us take a look at some things that you must consider about PC gaming.
Pros:
- Can run games offline
- Cheaper in the long run
- Has support for various accessories and the latest games
Cons:
- It requires an expensive PC
- It cannot be portable
With all that discussed, you can get a clear perspective on what you should choose and if you decided to stream as your bread and butter, then continue for all we have to offer.
How can you stream a game?
Streaming is simple and straightforward and requires nothing more than a phone, the streaming service’s app, and a fast internet connection of a minimum of 5Mbps to 20Mbps. You don’t need a wired connection, but it helps, as does a 5GHz Wi-Fi connection. The process for getting started is:
- Firstly download the streaming service app and subscribe to a plan
- Connect to your account and get some games
- Start playing all the games that are available with the streaming service
Recommended apps for Game Streaming
Google Stadia
Stadia is the Google way of streaming games to your Android and iOS devices. However, it is the most limited and can only play a few free games with the $9.99 Stadia Pro membership and requires you to buy all other game titles. All the games will remain on your Stadia list and won’t be able to transfer to any other streaming service or be downloaded. The list of titles is small, but Google is continuously adding more games to expand its inventory.
Setting up Stadia is a breeze and can be done in a few simple steps. You need to download the application, subscribe to a package, and get your gaming started. However, if you need a specific game to play, you will need to buy it to add it to your gaming library.
Some Pros and Cons of using Stadia
Pros:
- Works through the google servers
- It doesn’t require a dedicated PC
- It has a decent selection of games which is constantly growing
Cons:
- Requires you to buy gaming titles that cannot be transferred or downloaded
- It needs a high-speed internet connection
- It gets pretty expensive with time
Steam Link
The Steam Link app is the official streaming app from Stream and allows you to take all your games from the Stream library and play them on your phone. This will use your PC as the primary processing device and your phone as the host to display the game. You can connect any controller and start gaming on your phone but remember that it will lag and might even crash if your PC is not powerful enough. However, we felt that Steam Link was the most stable in all scenarios and delivered a great gaming experience from our experience.
Steam Link can be set up via a simple process as long your mobile and PC are on the same network. When you launch Steam Link, it will scan your network for computers running the Steam application and will then present a connection with all the games in your Steam library.
Some Pros and Cons of using Steam Link
Pros:
- It can stream all your games and also works with physical game discs
- Relatively affordable due to the low amount of data and internet costs
- No cap on FPS, which allows for high frame-rate gaming
- Has a variety of configurable options for a smooth, seamless gaming experience
Cons:
- Requires a relatively high-performance PC
- It is an expensive investment at the beginning
Moonlight
Moonlight is an open-source application developed for Android, iOS, and even Chrome, and it allows the possibility to stream games to just about any device with the app. However, it requires an Nvidia Graphics card or GPU on your PC to work as the underlying code is a modified build of the Nvidia Shield streaming service. After you get this working, you could play all your games, and it doesn’t require a constant subscription package as many other does.
Setting up Moonlight requires a few sets of protocols to be matched. It requires the latest version of Nvidia GeForce Experience installed on your PC with the GameStream function turned on. Finally, you need the app on your mobile device to connect to your PC and stream all of your titles. It also brings some customizable options for a seamless game stream. However, we recommend you stick with the “Auto” option on most of the choices.
Some Pros and Cons of using Moonlight
Pros:
- Is completely free
- Allows no cap on the frame-rate
- Requires a low amount of data and internet
Cons:
- It needs an Nvidia GPU to work
- The PC will be an expensive investment
AMD Link
AMD Link is a streaming service that works with AMD GPUs and provides a decent experience on mobile. It can stream all of your games and do that at an uncapped frame-rate. However, it works only with AMD GPUs and requires a decent internet service to stream all your games with a playable input lag. Talking about input lag, latency is a huge problem with some titles and is visible with ping issues while using AMD Link.
AMD Link also works similarly to Moonlight and requires the latest Radeon drivers and engine with a mobile application. These should be on the same network for everything to work perfectly and deliver you a great gaming experience.
Some Pros and Cons of using AMD Link
Pros:
- Uncapped Frame-rate for all games
- Requires a decently built PC
Cons:
- Requires an AMD GPU to work
- Has some latency issues
FAQs
Can Android play PC games?
Android supports a lot of apps that can stream all your games to a tablet or a mobile phone. For example, Stadia from Google or Steam Link from Steam but streaming all that data may require huge data costs and would mean that you will need to set your priorities straight, and many games are still buggy and may require a decent PC to perform their best.
Can you stream Steam games to your phone?
Steam allows you to stream games to your phone through Steam Link, and it supports both iOS and Android. Steam Link is a feature from which streaming becomes a breeze and only requires two to three-click to begin the process. However, you will need a high-speed active internet connection with low latency for this to work perfectly.
Can I play PC games on Android without a PC?
You can, and “Stadia” becomes one of the most prominent contenders for the top spot as it allows streaming without a PC. However, the Stadia app has minor flaws with the whole experience, and getting into streaming games can be done quickly by subscribing to a plan from Google and pay for all the other PC game titles. Oh, and you would also need a good internet connection to run everything smoothly.
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