the 4 best alternatives for you

As of January 18, Google Stadia’s servers will stop working. From then on, gamers need a worthy alternative. A new place for their games. We discuss what we think are the best choices to replace Google Stadia, and we look beyond just cloud gaming.

Stadia stops

In September 2022, Google announced that there is no future for Stadia. We have therefore already answered a number of important questions that gamers have, for example the way in which you can reclaim money from your purchased games and controllers. One question we still owe is the best alternate addresses for gamers. After all, how do you best replace a game service that you can use anywhere without the need for expensive hardware? Here you can read our answer to that question.

1. Xbox Cloud Gaming

Xbox Cloud Gaming or xCloud was one of Stadia’s competitors, even though Google’s gaming service had a head start for a long time. xCloud has now largely kept up. You can use it to stream games on your PC, TV, phone or tablet. You can also use a controller, but also a keyboard or mouse.

You can also play games with supported controllers on a smartphone

There are a number of differences compared to Stadia. That starts with the revenue model. You pay 12.99 euros monthly and you get access to a library of hundreds of games in one fell swoop. So you cannot buy games like on Stadia and if the subscription price ever changes, there is nothing left to do but pay extra or look for an alternative. The resolution of your streams is also still limited to 1080p.

Still, the main advantage is that the future of xCloud looks bright. Microsoft has been investing heavily in games for years and in recent years it has even announced acquisitions of major game studios such as Bethesda and Activision Blizzard. Monthly subscriptions are also a welcome revenue model for tech companies, so xCloud is expected to maintain a place in Xbox’s offerings in the long term.

2. Steam Deck

The Steam Deck is a gaming handheld released by the Valve company. This is known from Steam, the largest digital store for PC games. If you use a Steam Deck, you can play the games you buy through Steam with this handheld. The Steam Deck has decent buttons and joysticks, but the touchpads are also interesting, because they can replace a mouse in some games. You can also have your games appear on your TV by connecting the handheld to your television via a dock or USB hub.

The Steam Deck is available in three storage variants

If you use a Steam Deck, you must of course purchase the hardware first. The device is for sale from 419 euros and that amount is many times higher compared to the Stadia Premiere Edition, which went out the door at a certain price of 22 euros.

Large game selection

Once you have the Steam Deck, you can purchase individual games, just like in Stadia. The game selection for the Steam Deck is many times more extensive compared to Stadia, so it’s certainly good there. Although Steam has no alternative to the Stadia Pro subscription. Steam only sells single games or certain game bundles.

You will find a lot of Stadia’s well-known games on the Steam Deck, which makes the Steam Deck a more interesting alternative than a Nintendo Switch. That’s also a gaming handheld that connects to your TV. Another advantage over Nintendo’s console is the so-called Desktop mode. This allows you to use the Steam Deck as a full-fledged Linux PC.

The Steam Deck in its official dock

3. NVIDIA GeForce Now

NVIDIA GeForce Now is a cloud gaming service that appeared not much later than Stadia, but the concept is quite different. With GeForce Now you don’t buy games. You do get the ability to stream the games you already own thanks to the power of NVIDIA’s servers. You buy your games through services such as Origin, Steam or the Epic Game Store. Thanks to NVDIA’s approach, a lot of games are supported and many you already know from Stadia.

In principle, you can even use GeForce Now for free, but then you will run into limitations. The biggest is that you can sometimes end up in a queue before you can actually play and you can also play for a maximum of one hour. That is ideal if you want to test GeForce Now in advance, but it is better to switch to the Premium subscription afterwards, which costs 9.99 euros per month. Also, keep in mind that the gaming experience on GeForce Now is also less smooth compared to Stadia, as you’ll need to re-login to the game launcher where your games reside on a regular basis.

Related articles

4. a PC or laptop

And that brings us to the latest replacement for Stadia. If you use a high-end laptop with a powerful GPU, you have a relatively mobile gaming solution. If you really want to play on your phone or television, you can also stream games. This works, for example, via a tool Steam Link, with which you can play your Steam games via your phone or smart TV.

If you’re already planning to stream your game library, you might as well opt for a desktop. The advantage of a PC is that you can upgrade it later when the hardware is outdated. The big disadvantage of a laptop or PC is of course that you pay a lot of money for it. After all, one of the advantages of Stadia was that you no longer had to pay for the hardware: you only bought the games.

Which of these alternatives is most interesting to you? Maybe you have chosen another option, or do you already have experience with one of the above solutions? Let us know in the comments.

The most popular articles about Stadia