We all know that consoles can get expensive, especially when their pricing starts from a whopping $300 and goes all the way up to thousands of dollars. This forces many hard-core gamers to turn to alternatives that are just affordable. One of those cheaper alternatives is streaming services that allow you to stream your favorite titles for hours.
Game Streaming Service
As the name suggests, game streaming services let you stream games without needing a PC or console. Meaning it doesn’t take up your PC or console’s storage since you are streaming the games stored in a server across the country.
The client i.e. the server provides you with a live feed of the video and audio that is produced from their hardware, and then streamed onto your device. To input your commands, you need a controller to perform your actions.
For just a small cost, you should be able to stream gaming content from a server that is located somewhere else in the country. This means you need a high-speed internet connection for smooth streaming.
We recommend having up to 20 Mbps of an internet connection for smooth play. But get it from someone reliable such as Xfinity, which is famous for its gaming internet plans. Call the Xfinity customer service number to sign up for a lag-free internet plan at affordable rates. You can go wireless or wired, but a wired connection offers the most stable and lag-free connection to your online game streaming.
With this, check out the top five streaming services that you can use for playing games:
PlayStation Plus
We all know that Sony has some of the best first-party video games. Previously, we needed to own one of their consoles to be able to play Sony games. But that has changed now because, with their PlayStation Plus subscription, you can play a variety of PlayStation games on your PC as well as PS5 and PS4.
Some of the games featured in PS Plus are Killzone: Shadow Fall, The Last of Us, Bloodthorn, Until Dawn, God of War III: Remastered, etc. as well as third-party games such as Dishonored, Saints Row IV, Batman: Arkham games, and more!
There are three plans for PlayStation Plus:
- PS Plus Essential for just $10/mo.
- PS Plus Extra for $15/mo.
- PS Plus Premium for $18/mo.
Each plan has its own perks that you can take advantage of. With the Essential membership, you can get online access to the games and two monthly downloads. The Extra tier allows you access to more than 400 PlayStation games, whereas Premium gets you access to older games!
Xbox Game Pass
Users with Xbox controllers can subscribe to Xbox Game Pass for $10/mo. and download around 100 games onto their Xbox One or Xbox Series XIS. Downloading games means you don’t have to worry about the internet speed affecting your gaming experience. You can play these games in offline mode, as long as you are a member.
The library in Xbox Game Pass consists of masterpieces like Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Gears 5, Forza Horizon 5, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, and more. Xbox Game Pass has many other incredible games for you to enjoy.
What’s more, Microsoft has a policy for future Xbox-exclusive games: with your Xbox Game Pass subscription, you can enjoy all first-party Microsoft games at no extra charge on their launch day!
Amazon Luna
Luna, Amazon’s very own gaming subscription, allows you to stream from their cloud. It offers around 100 games, including Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Watch Dogs: Legion, Immortals Fenyx Rising, Far Cry 6, etc.
You can stream Amazon Luna on PC, Mac, Fire TV, iOS devices, and select Android devices. You do need an internet connection, which should be at least 10 Mbps for streaming games at 1080p or 35Mbps for streaming at 4K!
Amazon Luna’s subscription plans are:
- Luna+ at $10/mo. for a variety of modern games
- Ubisoft+ at $18/mo. for Ubisoft games only
- Jackbox Games at $5/mo. for a collection of party games
GeForce Now
If you own a Mac, Nvidia Shield, or just a low-end PC, you can still have access to the latest AAA games with GeForce Now! Other devices/programs that you can use to stream GeForce Now are Android, Chrome, iOS Safari, Android TV, and LG TV.
However, GeForce doesn’t offer gaming content like the above-mentioned other services. You need to purchase the games that you are interested in playing, through digital stores like Steam, Epic Games Store, or Blizzard Battle.net.
Once the games are installed, you can access GeForce’s cloud-based processors to stream the game on your devices. The games included in GeForce are Cyberpunk 2077, Fortnite, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Control, No Man’s Sky, Apex Legends, and more.
Streaming GeForce requires you to have a minimum of internet speed up to 15 Mbps. Also, the minimum version of operating systems requirements is MacOS 10.11 or Windows 7 64-bit to be able to stream games on GeForce.
Xbox Cloud Gaming
Microsoft also has its own cloud service called Xbox Cloud Gaming that aims to provide you access to their games without any hardware requirement. Meaning that you don’t need to download these games into your PC; rather you can just stream from their cloud service. If interested, your Xbox Cloud Gaming will be linked to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate at just $15/mo. And you can enjoy all the benefits of Xbox Game Pass and vice versa!
The games included in the cloud are originally created for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. But now with Xbox Cloud Gaming, most devices including PC, mobile phones, and tablets are all supported! All you need is a reliable internet connection that lets you access games in the Xbox Cloud Gaming library and streams their games.
Some gaming consoles require a Wi-Fi connection to play the games, which isn’t always the most stable connection. Xbox Cloud Gaming, however, connects your controller via Bluetooth, which means lower latency during gameplay.
Xbox Cloud Gaming allows you access to more than 100 titles to stream on your preferred device. It also supports cross-platform cloud save data, which means that if you are streaming a game on your Xbox One, you can leave and pick it up from your mobile device and resume playing.
Wrapping Up
Well, there you have it; your cheaper alternatives to video gaming consoles. If you just have a PC or mobile device, all you need is an internet connection and a streaming subscription and you are good to go!
