It’s the end of an era for SHIELD owners, as NVIDIA has announced it’ll be shutting down the GameStream feature. Those unfamiliar with the SHIELD or GameStream, the feature is as it sounds. It allows owners of NVIDIA’s SHIELD TV box to stream games from their PC. The PC and the SHIELD have to be on the same network, and GeForce Experience needs to be installed on the PC.
From there, streaming is as easy as a few clicks. Unfortunately, there seems to be not much of a point for NVIDIA to continue operating GameStream. In an official statement from NVIDIA, the company says that GameStream will be pulled offline in February of 2023 as part of an update to the NVIDIA Games app. The feature will be available for SHIELD owners to use up until the middle of the month. There’s no specific date for the shutdown though.
Users won’t be required to update their NVIDIA Games app, and that may allow the feature to work after the shutdown. According to the FAQ though, this is merely a bandaid. Without the app update any services which use it will not work. And this includes GeForce NOW. Basically, you’re better off updating.
There are alternatives to NVIDIA GameStream that work the same way
Some users may be sad to hear this news but there is a silver lining. GameStream is not a unique service. And the games you use it to play come from your Steam account. So you can just as easily use the Steam Link app to stream games to the SHIELD. This is even one of NVIDIA’s suggestions. In addition to Steam Link, there’s GeForce NOW.
An admittedly great option for cloud gaming. The only difference there is that you generally have to pay a subscription fee. While NVIDIA does offer a free membership, only the paid ones offer higher quality graphics and longer play sessions. Still, it’s an option if you want to continue streaming to the SHIELD without paying for a service.
Either way, all things come to an end eventually. And it was just GameStream’s time.
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