Sunday, December 18th 2022
NVIDIA is Ending GameStream Feature for its Shield TV Products
Come mid-February 2023, NVIDIA will be ending its GameStream feature on its Shield TV products. The GameStream feature has allowed owners of the Shield TV to stream games from their PC to their Shield TV. It might not have been the flagship feature of the Shield TV, but it has been popular enough that the cancellation has caused quite some stir on the internet. NVIDIA didn't provide any reason as to why the company is ending the GameStream feature, but one could potentially imagine that the company wants to push its customers to use its GeForce NOW paid streaming service instead.
However, NVIDIA does suggest that users could use Steam Link instead, to stream games from their PC to the Shield TV. That said, this would limit users to games found on Steam, which doesn't seem like a great compromise. For those that stream their games, NVIDIA Share is compatible with Steam Link, so there shouldn't be any problem continuing to stream games when playing on the Shield TV.
Source:
NVIDIA
However, NVIDIA does suggest that users could use Steam Link instead, to stream games from their PC to the Shield TV. That said, this would limit users to games found on Steam, which doesn't seem like a great compromise. For those that stream their games, NVIDIA Share is compatible with Steam Link, so there shouldn't be any problem continuing to stream games when playing on the Shield TV.
139 Comments on NVIDIA is Ending GameStream Feature for its Shield TV Products
I dunno if you read my post, but I don’t use those services, either, but the vast majority of consumers do, which is why the shield has a place in the market that’s better for most consumers than a PC.
I cannot only stream on my PC, but play games, edit documents, do work, emails, write this forum post, install apps, and if I wanted to, I could edit music, pictures, videos, etc. Can a TV do all this?
PCs were smart long before the term "smart device" even existed.
The current shield products are OLD AS F. Nvidia has not updated them with new hardware in some time, and likely doesnt want to continue paying software devs to fix any bugs and certify it for use, so they're just killing it outright. I've thought for a few years now that these devices were already on their last leg, and support was going to end eventually. The fact nvidia has not outright said NOW! is a replacement tells me they are trying to silently wind down the SHIELD program.
Also, who TF would use a nvidia cloud service to stream from their PC to their set top box when steam's own service already works fine?
Nvidia "We bring back the infamous 3080 deal on this generation, supports out of the box 10 game launches a month, 4 gig VRAM. one encoder chip, second encoder chip just $99 for the year, double the VRAM $49 for the year, extra game launches free for 30 days, special time deal buy now!!!!"
It's specially dumb to kill a feature that customers of both their GPUs and Shield have bought into. I mean, game stream is a convenience feature. You don't have to move your PC to play in a different room. Does NVIDIA really really think a significant amount of people will just say "I'm not moving my PC to the living, I'd rather pay NVIDIA a monthly fee and not use the GPU I invested in". People will either just move their PC or just play where it is.
In my view, they're killing a sales argument for two products: the Shield is now much less attractive, not very different from any other Android TV dongle or set-top. Simultaneously, one less sales argument for their GPUs, incentivizing GeForece Now for people who already bought into their GPUs and Shield.
I wonder how legal it is to take away one of your main sales arguments (they haven't even updated their webpage... see attached screen). Class action anyone?
leaving noobs aside that would pay about anything for nvidia executives to take dumps in their faces,
it would have been nice if nvidia suggested a viable tech like Parsec, not the stinky steam link.
nonetheless, nothing beats the latency (or lack there off) and quality that gamestream offers . I really hope Sunshine will soon.
Oh well!
Seriously though, game streaming is and was always a bad idea. It'll never have mass appeal as demonstrated by the fact that nearly every game streaming service is either dead or dying.
That is the first and the bigger problem. The second is the amount of data you have to move. 'Cause the "Master Race" likes things fast and/or crisp. So no lag and no streaming compression. Not possible in the near-future I'd say so...