The Logitech G Cloud and Shadow are a match made in cloud gaming heaven - TechCrunch

It’s clip to accept that unreality gaming is the aboriginal of gaming. At slightest for immoderate radical and adjacent though Stadia failed. But that radical of radical is becoming larger each year.

For the past fewer weeks, I person been playing video games connected a marque caller instrumentality — the Logitech G Cloud. But my games weren’t really moving connected Logitech’s gaming handheld. Instead, I relied connected unreality computing work Shadow to tally those games.

And I person to accidental that this acquisition has wholly changed however I consciousness astir unreality gaming. Playing connected the Logitech G Cloud with Shadow has been mostly a creaseless experience. More importantly, I’ve had a ton of amusive successful the process.

An Android console designed for unreality gaming

But first, what is the Logitech G Cloud? While you whitethorn beryllium acquainted with the Nintendo Switch and the Steam Deck, you whitethorn person ne'er heard of the Logitech G Cloud.

As you tin spot successful the photos, Logitech’s instrumentality looks acquainted if you ain a Nintendo Switch a Steam Deck. It is fundamentally a 7-inch show surrounded by gamepad-like controls connected each broadside of the display.

But the examination stops present arsenic the Logitech G Cloud isn’t designed to tally games natively. It runs Android apps and has mid-range specifications astatine best. Instead, the instrumentality has been created arsenic a bladed lawsuit to entree unreality gaming services.

That’s wherefore it’s absorbing to spot that galore gamers are conscionable missing the point. For instance, this YouTube video titled “The G Stands For Garbage” mostly mentions emulation show and Android games.

Logitech is simply a peripheral manufacturer. And the Logitech G Cloud should beryllium considered arsenic such. A peripheral for unreality gaming services. A controller with a display. A carnal hold of a server successful a information halfway adjacent you.

Now that we person defined the expectations much clearly, I tin safely accidental that Logitech delivers nicely connected its archetypal premise. The instrumentality feels large successful your manus acknowledgment to textured, rounded grips. It feels sturdy but it’s not excessively heavy.

In my acquisition playing Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered, Rocket League, Hitman 3 oregon Celeste, the buttons enactment well. Logitech has chosen the Xbox gamepad layout with A/B/X/Y buttons, 2 analog joysticks, 2 analog triggers, 2 bumper buttons and haptic feedback. There are a fistful of other buttons to get backmost location oregon motorboat the Xbox overlay paper erstwhile you’re playing a crippled connected Xbox Cloud Gaming.

The Logitech G Cloud weighs 463g — that’s astir 30% lighter than the Steam Deck and a spot heavier than a Nintendo Switch with Joy-Con controllers attached. I’ve had agelong gaming sessions without feeling immoderate issues successful my hands oregon forearms.

Under the hood, the Logitech G Cloud sports a Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G strategy connected a spot with 4GB of RAM. It has 64GB of retention that you tin grow with a microSD card. It supports WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.1. There are besides a 3.5mm headphone jack, stereo speakers and stereo microphones.

On paper, you get conscionable the close magnitude of computing powerfulness to tally unreality gaming services, but thing extra. But it’s a shame that Logitech didn’t take WiFi 6 implicit WiFi 5 fixed however important latency and net bandwidth are for unreality gaming.

The USB-C larboard besides doesn’t enactment video output, which means that you won’t beryllium capable to plug the instrumentality to a TV. The built-in show has a 1080p resolution, which is nice, but it doesn’t person a large viewing angle. So you person to beryllium close successful beforehand of the device.

All of this is good and you thin to hide those details erstwhile you commencement playing. But my biggest ailment astir the Logitech G Cloud is that it isn’t inexpensive — it costs $350. There are 2 ways to deliberation astir the pricing issue. Logitech products thin to beryllium connected the costly broadside and it doesn’t look excessively costly erstwhile you comparison the instrumentality to midrange smartphones. But the Nintendo Switch is cheaper and the Steam Deck is conscionable somewhat much expensive.

The Logitech G Cloud runs Android 11 with a customized launcher that has been co-developed with Tencent. If you lone request to spell done your database of astir caller apps oregon favourite apps, it works fine. But it’s inactive unsmooth astir the edges, particularly successful the settings and the notification menus.

I anticipation Logitech volition vessel bundle updates to amended the launcher. If you accidentally bought the Logitech G Cloud to usage it arsenic an Android tablet, you tin besides disable the customized launcher wholly and get the default Android experience.

Running Shadow

The Logitech G Cloud comes with a fewer pre-installed gaming apps, specified arsenic Xbox Cloud Gaming and Nvidia GeForce Now connected the unreality gaming front, Steam Link and the Xbox app for distant play successful lawsuit you ain a gaming PC oregon an Xbox console already.

You tin besides instal immoderate app you privation from Google Play. For instance, I installed Shadow’s app to entree their unreality computing service.

If you are not acquainted with Shadow, the French institution has been moving connected a unreality computing work for gamers. People tin wage a monthly subscription interest to entree a full-fledged machine successful a information halfway adjacent them. It is simply a Windows instance, which means you tin instal immoderate you want.

Shadow starts astatine $29.99 per period for a instrumentality with the equivalent of an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080, 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.

On October 26, Shadow is releasing a high-end configuration. For different $14.99 per period (so $44.98 per period successful total), subscribers get an AMD EPYC 7543P CPU with 4 cores and 8 threads, 16GB of RAM and a caller GPU, specified arsenic an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 oregon the equivalent GPU successful Nvidia’s nonrecreational GPU lineup, oregon a nonrecreational AMD Radeon GPU based connected the RDNA 2 architecture (AMD Radeon Pro V620) — I person an Nvidia RTX A4000.

I person been trying Shadow’s Power Upgrade configuration and it has been moving incredibly well. I played Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered oregon Hitman 3 with ultra prime settings without immoderate issue. Loading times person been large and ocular prime has been stunning. For instance, I get astir 65 frames per 2nd successful Spider-Man.

To beryllium fair, fixed that I’ve been trying Shadow connected the Logitech G Cloud, my games are moving successful 1080p. Modern GPUs person been designed to tally games successful 4K, oregon astatine slightest successful 1440p resolution. So the Power Upgrade mightiness beryllium an overkill for the Logitech G Cloud.

By default, Steam automatically starts successful Big Picture mode erstwhile I unfastened the Shadow app connected the Logitech G Cloud. Sure, Big Picture hasn’t been updated successful ages. But it works good to prime a crippled and motorboat it.

Other launchers are supported but it’s a spot clunky. You tin pinch to zoom and pat with your digit to simulate a rodent click successful Windows. I haven’t tried to instal Playnite, but that could beryllium an enactment arsenic good if you privation to debar rodent clicks altogether.

Shadow automatically detects the Logitech G Cloud arsenic a generic Xbox-style controller — nary configuration needed. The lone contented is that controller vibrations don’t work, alas.

At home, I person a unchangeable fibre transportation and Shadow’s information halfway is not excessively far. It means that I tin prime up the Logitech G Cloud, hold 15 seconds oregon truthful for Windows to footwear up connected my Shadow, motorboat a crippled and play.

After conscionable a fewer minutes, I hide that the crippled isn’t adjacent moving locally. And erstwhile I discontinue the crippled aft a while, that’s erstwhile I recognize that I’ve had nary contented and that unreality gaming was just… gaming.

I besides played assorted games connected Nvidia GeForce Now — Trackmania and Disco Elysium for instance. In that case, the acquisition is adjacent smoother than with Shadow arsenic you don’t spot Windows astatine all. When you deed play, it starts the crippled directly. As agelong arsenic you are playing games that are supported by GeForce Now, the acquisition is great. But the crippled room is smaller.

Finally, I tried Xbox Cloud Gaming with games similar Fortnite and Forza Horizon 5. It worked fine, but I recovered that GeForce Now was much responsive. Moreover, the work is inactive constricted to 720p, which is disappointing.

When it comes to artillery life, the Logitech G Cloud doesn’t person a instrumentality and doesn’t get hot. When you play for an hr and a half, it removes 15 to 20% to your battery. In different words, you don’t person to complaint the instrumentality each clip you enactment it down. Logitech promises up to 12 hours of unreality crippled play.

I tried taking the Logitech G Cloud with maine connected a enactment trip. The acquisition wasn’t arsenic good. The edifice Wi-Fi wasn’t reliable capable for unreality gaming. The bureau Wi-Fi was alright, but it didn’t consciousness creaseless capable for agelong gaming sessions. I’m not definite I volition beryllium traveling with the instrumentality successful the aboriginal arsenic it doesn’t look to beryllium designed for these usage cases.

The aboriginal days of unreality gaming

Cloud gaming is inactive a comparatively niche market. But determination are galore reasons wherefore I deliberation it is astir to change. People deliberation unreality gaming is astir playing games connected the go. But successful my experience, it’s a unspeakable mode to acquisition unreality gaming.

The astir engaged gamers are arguably those who already ain a gaming PC oregon a caller console. That’s wherefore they are besides the aboriginal adopters of unreality gaming. But astir radical play games connected their phones. According to marketplace probe steadfast Newzoo, determination are 2.8 cardinal gamers connected mobile, 1.4 cardinal gamers connected PC and lone 0.9 cardinal gamers connected console.

The crushed wherefore Microsoft, Nvidia and Sony are investing truthful overmuch wealth successful unreality gaming is due to the fact that it represents an important maturation opportunity. And they request to find a mode to little to obstruction to introduction to large gaming-as-a-service titles.

For instance, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is 1 of the biggest merchandise of the extremity of 2022. Based connected gameplay videos, it indispensable person outgo a tiny luck to produce.

Activision wants to enactment this crippled successful the hands of arsenic galore gamers arsenic possible. But a gaming PC is costly and determination are inactive proviso concatenation issues for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. If Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard goes through, you tin beryllium definite that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 volition beryllium playable connected Xbox Cloud Gaming astatine immoderate point.

As for the subscription interrogation, yes, unreality gaming requires you to wage a subscription. Sometimes it’s an all-in-one subscription includes a crippled room (Xbox Cloud Gaming), sometimes it conscionable lets you entree the work (GeForce Now). But millions of gamers are already utilized to paying subscriptions for Xbox Live Gold, Xbox Game Pass oregon PlayStation Plus.

Cloud gaming isn’t going to entreaty to everyone. It isn’t adjacent going to regenerate accepted gaming consoles. And yet, successful a fewer years, determination could beryllium much playing video games connected a unreality gaming work than connected a gaming console.

It’s each astir uncovering the operation that works for you — the close device, the close unreality gaming work and the close net connection. And utilizing Shadow connected the Logitech G Cloud is decidedly a compelling setup.