Shadow Cloud Gaming To Replace Gaming PC

Shadow Cloud gaming will replace Gaming PC. Can it be done? Shadow is a streaming service that gives you access to a full-on, high-end Windows 10 PC in the cloud. This means you can stream PC games from a remote server to an old computer.

This may sound a little like the now defunct OnLive service. OnLive had issues like latency, heavy compression, and poor game selection. Shadow has mitigated most of these problems. Shadow was developed by The Blade Group.

It streams a full-on desktop PC and not just a curated library of games. You can use it to launch all your Stream games. It can also be used for productivity tasks like video editing. It can also be streamed to different devices like laptops, tablets, smartphones and more.

Shadow in its gaming farms is equivalent to a $2000 gaming PC. Its subscription service starts at $35 per month.

Specs

Shadow’s PC is equipped with Nvidia’s Quadro P5000 professional graphic cards. Its GPU is roughly as fast as Nvidia’s consumer-based GTX 1080. Its system has 12 GB of RAM. But the lone 256 GB of hard drive does not provide much storage.

The company’s data centers are located in Paris, UK, and Santa Clara, CA at the moment. Shadow is only currently available in California only. But the company is planning to roll out more data centers around the country.

Requirements

Streaming gameplay has to be done in real-time with minimal latency. You do not have the same buffering safety net as Netflix. Shadow needs an internet connection with at least 15 megabits down. This is three times faster than Netflix’s HD tier, which requires five megabits per second connection. But it is less than Netflix’s 4K streaming standard which requires 25 megabits per second down.

Price

Shadow starts at $35 per month if you commit to a one year subscription. A three month contract costs $40 per month. Users can also subscribe month by month for $50. The company will soon allow users to buy a physical “Shadow Box” for $140. It can also be rented at $10 per month that you can stream to.