We can talk about the latest cloud gaming news for hours. xCloud comes to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate with no additional cost, Google Stadia promotes effortless cloud gaming across any screen, while Boosteroid scales in Europe… As you have probably guessed, we’ll compare two cloud gaming platforms to show you the strongest and the weakest sides of this technology.
Who knows, maybe you’ll decide to try Boosteroid or Google Stadia. Android smartphones, as ultimate devices to run PC games remotely, can attract a massive audience to these services. According to DFC Intelligence, there are more than 3 billion gamers on Earth.
The mobile segment is the most rapidly growing, despite half of those users are located in Asia. Cloud gaming providers have a great chance to bite a big piece of cake right there.
As you might know, the first big cloud gaming platform OnLive appeared in 2010. It was created to run your games remotely, but was not available for mobile devices. Slow Internet connection, as well as software and hardware limitations were the biggest trouble to apply cloud technologies to video gaming. OnLive was acquired by Sony and shut down some time afterward. Basically, it died to give life to PlayStation NOW.
After a few years of silence… big companies went nuts. Cloud gaming just blew up the industry, but this time mobile devices were in the middle of big companies’ attention. 5G, high-speed Wi-Fi and high-end smartphones are now giving the opportunity to run PC games on your mobile phone.
For example, Microsoft is pushing xCloud as mobile software to cover this niche. Some providers like Nvidia or Shadow have their own Android app. This is where the war for mobile gamers begins.
Boosteroid started its way in 2019. This service gained popularity in Eastern Europe back then. Now Boosteroid covers almost the whole of Europe and claims to be a cloud platform with the widest server network on the continent. The platform provides access to video games via different launchers and has about 200 games available in browser.
Google Stadia, known as Project Stream in the past, appeared shortly after Boosteroid. Unfortunately, Google wasn’t ready for a beta launch. As a result, the service received mixed reviews because of latency. This issue is now in the past, but the damage was taken. Google Stadia has more than 50 titles in its library and operates as a separate store for games.
- Google Stadia: mixed reviews, gains position in 2019.
- Boosteroid: strong start in Europe.
The first thing that comes to our minds when we talk about cloud gaming: is it possible to run your PC games on Android devices steadily? Despite Google Stadia works via browsers on personal computers, its best experience for smartphones is in-app launch. You just have to be sure this cloud gaming platform is available in your country.
There are only a few more steps, one of them is to download the app on Play Market. Boosteroid, on the other hand, is pushing its web-based technology further. Yes, access through the app is a bit more smooth than in-browser technology.
Web-based services aren’t built around the frame compensation, so there might be fps drops while packet loss appears. But the opportunity to run your games directly from Chrome or Opera is very promising.
Also, don’t forget about the controller. Not every service provides touchscreen controls — Boosteroid and Google Stadia are no exception. Both of these companies are working on their own touchscreen gamepad, but this might take a while.
Microsoft, for example, implemented their virtual controller for a small number of games on xCloud, which proves it’s not that simple to do.
- Google Stadia: better with Android app.
- Boosteroid: web-based access.
Google Stadia has more than 50 games and its strongest partner is Ubisoft. Yes, you can run the latest titles like Watch Dogs: Legion or Immortals Fenyx Rising (beta), but what comes next?
Those 50 games can be completed in a short time, especially if you’ve finished some of them on Steam, Ubisoft Connect, etc. Also, users have to buy games directly in the Google Stadia store.
With a Pro subscription, you can play some titles with no additional purchase, but your Steam library is becoming useless at this point. Not every gamer will be glad to buy the same game twice.
This is where Boosteroid has a strong advantage. The service provides access to different launchers, so you can run the games that you have already purchased from the official distributor. Yes, not every latest AAA-title appears on Boosteroid, but a wide variety of them are already there.
The most suitable games to be run on smartphones are obviously side-scrollers, but there are no limits at this point, especially if you are using a gamepad. Do you want to play the latest hits like Mafia: Definitive Edition, Watch Dogs: Legion or Microsoft Flight Simulator in the cloud?
Just choose a platform where these games are available on a mobile phone and you can run them almost in any place. Have you ever imagined that you play Fortnite in browser? This is possible thanks to Boosteroid and the power of cloud gaming.
- Google Stadia: 50+ games (Ubisoft titles included).
- Boosteroid: About 200 games from different launchers.
Almost every cloud gaming platform offers its basic subscription for about $10. This is a reasonable price at the moment. Boosteroid provides the Start subscription for €9.89 and Google Stadia will charge you $9.99 every month. But there are a few subscription options that might be more interesting for you.
Annual Boosteroid subscription costs €49.89 which comes down to €4.16 per month. Google Stadia offers a $129 bundle (3 months of Pro subscription and Stadia Controller included).
- Google Stadia: $9.99 for a subscription (no annual).
- Boosteroid: €9.89 for a basic subscription (€49.89 annual).
Conclusion
This is what you should know about these two cloud gaming platforms. We’ve examined Boosteroid and Google Stadia for you, but there are plenty of other services out there. Cloud gaming is the next step for the whole industry. Almost every big company understands this and tries to develop its own solution.
Even Amazon, after a big flop with Crucible, have announced their cloud service named Luna. It proves that companies are looking forward to cloud gaming in a long term perspective.