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Top 10 Best Cloud Gaming Services to Play Online Games

Posted on by in Gaming

Our world is evolving with every passing day. Each day, a new piece of technology is invented which outdates similar technologies invented in the past. Cloud Gaming is one of these technologies which is slowly taking the gaming world by storm. Cloud Gaming aspires to replace PC gaming by providing an easy solution to some major gaming issues. One of the biggest issues with PC gaming is the cost that comes with the purchase of expensive graphics cards that are required for a good gaming system. We also have to add other parts to the gaming system which are equally expensive.

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On the other hand, Cloud Gaming is much easier to setup and can be played on any device regardless of its specifications. What Cloud Gaming requires is a good internet connection with the right latency and you can stream and play any game you want on any device.

Now there are plenty of Cloud Gaming services on the web. For your convenience, I have selected the top 10 cloud gaming services that are available for you to play your games on:

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1. PlayStation Now

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If you’re a fan of PlayStation exclusives, then you should hop for PlayStation Now! You don’t require a PlayStation console to use PlayStation Now. You can play any PlayStation you want on even a low-end PC.

You can easily play your favorite PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 games live on your PC for a subscription fees of $19.99 per month, or $44.99 per three months. Gaming performance might not be on par with a good gaming PC, but it is still usable and comparable to a console.

Though, you will face noticeable compression, especially if you’re running a high-end game. Latency can also make fast paced games less than ideal.

2. GeForce Now

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GeForce is new in the cloud gaming scene but is already turning heads towards its supreme graphics and impressive performance. It provides a versatile gaming experience with ample graphics horsepower, low latency and high video quality.

Nvidia hasn’t announced pricing yet. GeForce Now can work from your Mac or PC device. You can easily use GeForce Now to access one of Nvidia’s servers which are equipped with a Tesla P40.

You can stream either at standard quality or with Ultra Streaming mode. Ultra will require a good internet connection, but will provide a higher refresh rate with lower latency.

With Ultra enabled, the video quality is definitely noteworthy. It isn’t quite as good as using a proper gaming PC, but the picture will still be sharp with minimal compression artifacts.

3. Parsec Cloud Gaming

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Unlike Shadow, which has an exclusive partnership with Equinix from where it brings in highly tuned gaming equipment, Parsec supports Amazon Web Services and the company works alongside Paperspace, a company specializing in hosting GPU-accelerated virtual machines in the cloud.

An advantage of Parsec is that it allows multiplayer support unlike you’ll see on any other cloud gaming service. In fact, many gaming companies are already considering following on Parsec’s example to start multiplayer online gaming.

4. Playkey.net

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Playkey offers multiplayer support and can run different 20 game sessions (or users), simultaneously on the same server. PlayKey supports over 150 games that include Grand Theft Auto: V, The Witcher 3, Mafia III, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Bioshock: Infinite, and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. More games are being added each month.

Playkey offers monthly subscription plans of $10 and $20, with the former offering 30fps while the latter offers 60fps to its users.

5. Shadow

Shadow isn’t widely available yet, but it makes some bold promises. With an equivalent of GTX 1080s for GPUs and claiming 4k streaming as well as gigabit internet for the cloud PC, Shadow might be able to deliver the highest quality streaming experience to cloud gamers.

Its price will range from $34.95 to $49.95 per month depending on your commitment which makes it a premium option. Even with the high pricing, if it lives up to the claims, it could very well be worth it.

6. Paperspace

Paperspace recently launched GPU-powered virtual machines that utilize Nvidia’s Pascal cards. While the service is more focused on machine learning and cloud computing, it is also one of the players performing in the cloud gaming market.

7. Vortex

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Vortex doesn’t give you direct control over a PC, but offers a client instead with a list of compatible games that you can play.
Vortex’s library of 100 compatible games is partially paid for and reuires you to bring your own license for the rest.

Vortex is fairly easy to use and doesn’t require you to have knowledge of running a gaming PC to get on board. Vortex offers use of 3GB GTX 1060s. Streaming isn’t very impressive but it is usable. Overall, it is a good streaming service for cloud gamers.

8. LiquidSky

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LiquidSky is another popular cloud gaming service. Its negative points is that it has hourly limits which often deter some users. Its best option is the 25 hour option, with seven days of storage persistence, and you can get that for $10. Monthly subscription starts at $19.99 and comes with 80 hours of game time.

LiquidSky doesn’t come with a gaming library. But you can play any game that you own on the service. You have to choose between two power levels when you start. The more powerful level uses your allotted time twice as fast. The lower tier offers only 2GB of VRAM, which is the minimum requirement to run any game.

9. Microsoft Azure

Microsoft Azure is another platform which is more focused on cloud tools for building, managing and supporting applications and services. The service has also entered cloud gaming market, and though it isn’t very popular yet, we’re sure that it will grow to become one of the top players very soon.

10. Simplay

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Simplay is another Cloud Gaming service that’s slowly garnering lots of attention. The service is affordable as it offers unlimited hours of Cloud Gaming starting from $19.99 per month. Simplay has native support for Parsec. The service remains poised to disrupt the cloud gaming market.

How to improve your Cloud Gaming experience?

Cloud gaming is gaining immense popularity with each passing day. While the service is easy to setup and use, there are some disadvantages with this new way of gaming. The biggest of these is latency.

Because cloud gaming depends on your internet connection to work, any problems with your connection can ruin your cloud gaming experience. Your ping rate must be optimum for you to enjoy your cloud gaming experience.

Of times, ISPs slow down your internet speed when they find that you are consuming lots of bandwidth. You often consume gigabytes of bandwidth when you are cloud gaming. In such scenarios, you’ll often find your internet speed slower than usual.

Another major problem with cloud gaming are geo-restrictions. There are many cloud gaming services that are geo-blocked in many countries for several reasons. Some provide limited libraries to people in some countries. Such geo-restrictions can ruin your cloud gaming experience.

In scenarios like these, we recommend that you use a VPN, or more specifically PureVPN. PureVPN has 2,000+ servers in 141 countries, which removes the geo-restriction issue while you are cloud gaming.

VPN also improves your latency by hiding your online traffic from your ISP. Because of this, your ISP won’t be able to detect how much data you’re consuming, improving your latency as a result.

So what are you waiting for? Buy VPN to improve your cloud gaming experience using the amazing services mentioned above alongside PureVPN.

Author: Patrick J. Burt

An experienced content writer and digital evangelist. Patrick J. Burt has been writing for more than 3 years on various writing platforms all across the internet. He is an avid contributor and a part of the entire digital marketing team.

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