It’s time to accept that cloud gaming is the future of gaming. At least for some people and even if Stadia failed. But this group of people is growing every year.
For the past few weeks, I’ve been playing video games on a brand new device – the Logitech G Cloud. But my games didn’t actually work on Logitech’s gaming handheld. Instead, I relied on the Shadow cloud service to run these games.
And I must say that this experience has completely changed how I feel about cloud gaming. Gaming on the Logitech G Cloud with Shadow was generally a smooth experience. More importantly, I had a ton fun in the process.
![](https://oponame.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/The-Logitech-G-Cloud-and-Shadow-are-a-match-made.jpeg)
Picture credits: Romain Dillet / TechCrunch
An Android console designed for cloud gaming
But first, what is the Logitech G Cloud? While you might be familiar with the Nintendo Switch and the Steam Deck, you might never have heard of the Logitech G Cloud.
As you can see from the photos, Logitech’s device looks familiar if you own a Nintendo Switch with a Steam Deck. It’s basically a 7-inch screen surrounded by joystick-like controls on either side of the screen.
But the comparison stops here because the Logitech G Cloud is not designed to run games natively. It runs Android apps and has mid-range specs at best. Instead, the device was created as a thin client for accessing cloud gaming services.
That’s why it’s interesting to see that many players miss the point. For example, this YouTube video called “The G Stands For Garbage” mainly mentions emulation performance and Android games.
Logitech is a peripheral manufacturer. And the Logitech G Cloud should be considered as such. A device for cloud gaming services. A controller with a screen. A physical extension of a server in a data center near you.
![](https://oponame.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/1666625874_670_The-Logitech-G-Cloud-and-Shadow-are-a-match-made.jpeg)
Picture credits: Romain Dillet / TechCrunch
Now that we’ve set expectations more clearly, I can safely say that Logitech lives up to its original premise well. The device feels great in your hand thanks to textured, rounded grips. It feels solid but it’s not too heavy.
In my experience playing Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered, Rocket League, Hitman 3, or Celeste, the buttons work well. Logitech chose the Xbox gamepad layout with A/B/X/Y buttons, two analog sticks, two analog triggers, two bumper buttons, and haptic feedback. There are a handful of extra buttons for going home or launching the Xbox overlay menu when playing a game on Xbox Cloud Gaming.
The Logitech G Cloud weighs 463g, which is around 30% lighter than the Steam Deck and a bit heavier than a Nintendo Switch with Joy-Con controllers attached. I had long gaming sessions without feeling any issues in my hands or forearms.
Under the hood, the Logitech G Cloud sports a Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G system on a chip with 4GB of RAM. It has 64GB of storage which you can expand with a microSD card. It supports Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 5.1. There is also a 3.5mm headphone jack, stereo speakers and stereo microphones.
On paper, you get just the right amount of computing power to run cloud gaming services, but nothing more. But it’s a shame Logitech didn’t choose WiFi 6 over WiFi 5 given how crucial internet latency and bandwidth is for cloud gaming.
The USB-C port also doesn’t support video output, which means you won’t be able to plug the device into a TV. The built-in screen has a 1080p resolution, which is fine, but it doesn’t have a wide viewing angle. It is therefore necessary to be right in front of the device.
It’s all good and you tend to forget these details when you start playing. But my biggest complaint about the Logitech G Cloud is that it’s not cheap – it costs $350. There are two ways to think about the question of prices. Logitech products tend to be expensive and it doesn’t seem too expensive when you compare the device to mid-range smartphones. But the Nintendo Switch is cheaper and the Steam Deck is just a bit more expensive.
The Logitech G Cloud runs Android 11 with a custom launcher that was co-developed with Tencent. If you only need to browse your list of most recent apps or favorite apps, it works fine. But it’s still rough around the edges, especially in the settings and notification menus.
I hope Logitech will send software updates to improve the launcher. If you accidentally bought Logitech G Cloud to use as an Android tablet, you can also disable the custom launcher entirely and get the default Android experience.
![](https://oponame.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/1666625874_837_The-Logitech-G-Cloud-and-Shadow-are-a-match-made.jpeg)
Picture credits: Romain Dillet / TechCrunch
Running Shadow
The Logitech G Cloud comes with a few gaming apps pre-installed, such as Xbox Cloud Gaming and Nvidia GeForce Now on the cloud gaming front, Steam Link, and the Xbox app for remote gaming in case you already have a PC. game or an Xbox console. .
You can also install any app from Google Play. For example, I installed Shadow’s app to access their cloud service.
If you’re not familiar with Shadow, the French company has been working on a cloud computing service for gamers. People can pay a monthly subscription to access a full-fledged computer in a data center near their home. It’s a Windows instance, which means you can install whatever you want.
Shadow starts at $29.99 per month for a machine with the equivalent of an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080, 12GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage.
On October 26, Shadow releases a high-end configuration. For an additional $14.99 per month (so $44.98 per month total), subscribers get an AMD EPYC 7543P processor with 4 cores and 8 threads, 16 GB of RAM and a recent GPU, such as an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 or the equivalent GPU in Nvidia Professional. GPU lineup, or a professional AMD Radeon GPU based on the RDNA 2 architecture (AMD Radeon Pro V620) – I have an Nvidia RTX A4000.
I tried Shadow’s Power Upgrade setup and it worked amazingly well. I played Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered or Hitman 3 on ultra quality settings with no issues. Load times were excellent and the visual quality was stunning. For example, I get around 65 frames per second in Spider-Man.
To be fair, given that I tried Shadow on the Logitech G Cloud, my games run at 1080p. Modern GPUs were designed to run games at 4K, or at least 1440p resolution. So the power upgrade might be overkill for the Logitech G Cloud.
By default, Steam automatically starts in Big Picture mode when I open the Shadow app on Logitech G Cloud. Of course, Big Picture hasn’t been updated in ages. But it works fine to select a game and launch it.
Other launchers are supported but it’s a bit clunky. You can pinch to zoom and tap with your finger to simulate a mouse click in Windows. I haven’t tried installing Playnite, but that could also be an option if you want to avoid mouse clicks altogether.
Shadow automatically detects the Logitech G Cloud as a generic Xbox-style controller – no setup required. The only problem is that the vibration of the controller does not work, alas.
At home I have a stable fiber connection and Shadow’s data center is not too far away. This means I can grab the Logitech G Cloud, wait about 15 seconds for Windows to boot on my Shadow, launch a game, and play.
After a few minutes, I forget that the game is not even running locally. And when I quit the game after a while, that’s when I realized that I hadn’t had any problems and that cloud gaming was just… gaming.
I also played various games on Nvidia GeForce Now – Trackmania and Disco Elysium for example. In this case, the experience is even smoother than with Shadow because you don’t see Windows at all. When you press play, the game starts directly. As long as you’re playing games supported by GeForce Now, the experience is great. But the game library is smaller.
Finally, I tried Xbox Cloud Gaming with games like Fortnite and Forza Horizon 5. It worked well, but I found GeForce Now to be more responsive. Also, the service is still limited to 720p, which is disappointing.
As for battery life, the Logitech G Cloud has no fan and does not heat up. When you play for an hour and a half, it takes 15-20% off your battery. In other words, you don’t have to charge the device every time you put it down. Logitech promises up to 12 hours of cloud gaming.
I tried taking the Logitech G Cloud with me on a work trip. The experience was not as good. Hotel Wi-Fi was not reliable enough for cloud gaming. The office Wi-Fi was decent, but it didn’t seem smooth enough for long gaming sessions. I’m not sure I’ll be traveling with the device in the future as it doesn’t seem to be designed for those cases. use.
![](https://oponame.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/1666625874_58_The-Logitech-G-Cloud-and-Shadow-are-a-match-made.jpeg)
Picture credits: Romain Dillet / TechCrunch
The beginnings of cloud gaming
Cloud gaming is still a niche market. But there are several reasons why I think this is about to change. People think cloud gaming is about playing games on the go. But in my experience, it’s a terrible way to experience cloud gaming.
The most committed gamers are undoubtedly those who already own a gaming PC or a recent console. That’s why they’re also early adopters of cloud gaming. But most people play games on their phones. According to market research firm Newzoo, there are 2.8 billion mobile gamers, 1.4 billion PC gamers and just 0.9 billion console gamers.
The reason Microsoft, Nvidia, and Sony are investing so much money in cloud gaming is that it represents a significant growth opportunity. And they need to find a way to lower the barrier to entry for big game-as-a-service titles.
For example, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is one of the biggest releases of late 2022. Based on gaming videosit must have cost a small fortune to produce.
Activision wants to put this game in the hands of as many gamers as possible. But a gaming PC is expensive, and there are still supply chain issues for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. If Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard goes through, you can be sure Call of Duty : Modern Warfare 2 will be playable on Xbox Cloud Gaming at some point.
As for the subscription query, yes, cloud gaming requires you to pay for a subscription. Sometimes it’s an all-in-one subscription including a toy library (Xbox Cloud Gaming), sometimes it just allows access to the service (GeForce Now). But millions of gamers are already used to paying subscriptions for Xbox Live Gold, Xbox Game Pass or PlayStation Plus.
Cloud gaming will not appeal to everyone. It won’t even replace traditional game consoles. And yet, in a few years, there could be more video game players on a cloud gaming service than on a game console.
It’s all about finding the right combination for you: the right device, the right cloud gaming service and the right internet connection. And using Shadow on Logitech G Cloud is definitely a compelling setup.
![](https://oponame.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/1666625874_784_The-Logitech-G-Cloud-and-Shadow-are-a-match-made.jpeg)
Picture credits: Romain Dillet / TechCrunch
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