Nvidia Shield users petition against killing GameStream & removing core features; Moonlight trends as potential alternative

The Nvidia Shield is one of the most interesting Android media player or TV Box. The device has a strong focus on gaming, even offering native adaptations of major console titles.

In addition, Nvidia Shield users can enjoy their PC games on the media player via streaming thanks to GameStream. Sadly, this will no longer be possible in the near future.

Nvidia has decided to discontinue GameStream, which is raising a lot of complaints, as well as discussions about the best potential alternative (which aims to be ‘Moonlight’).

The GameStream feature allows Nvidia Shield users to stream their games from a computer with Nvidia GTX GPU directly to the media player. The user’s PC acts as the server on which the games actually run.

However, this will no longer be the case as from February 2023 with the arrival of an update that will remove the feature.

Nvidia removing gamestream from SHIELD devices

Just got an email indicating Gamestream will be removed in February. They recommend changing to steam link or GeForce Now. Pretty disappointing, as I heavily use Gamestream on my SHIELD.
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Nvidia shield is losing gamestream. You should be angry about this.

Nvidia has recently announced that it’s deleting Gamestream in 2023 and I as well as many others will simply not be able to access it anymore. It may also break support for Moonlight.

Here’s the big problem: Gamestream is local. Nvidia gains NOTHING taking it away. It’s not run through their servers, it’s not subscription based, it’s a local fucking program.
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Apparently, Nvidia recommends Valve’s Steam Link as an alternative. While Steam Link will work for Steam games, players will no longer be able to stream games purchased through other launchers like Epic Games and Origin.

Also, players do not find much sense in the decision. After all, streaming via GameStream is local, and does not depend on Nvidia servers, only on the user’s hardware.

Following Nvidia’s decision, Shield media player owners started a Change.org campaign to try to stop it from taking place.

The argument is that game streaming is a ‘core feature’ of the Nvidia Shield. This feature is even the reason why some bought the company’s TV box.

Therefore, they find it totally unfair that such an important feature is removed unilaterally. If you are interested in contributing to the cause, you can access the Change.org campaign from this link.

In case the campaign doesn’t pan out, Nvidia Shield owners have been discussing a potential alternative to GameStream. Multiple users agree that Moonlight could be the most viable option.

It’s worth pointing out that even Moonlight could be affected by Nvidia’s decision. This would be the case if Nvidia also ‘kills’ the GeForce Experience server:

Moonlight will continue to work, however if nvidia remove the gamestream tab from GFE you will need to use an alternative.
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That said, users can always use Moonlight through Sunshine to get around that:

So far as I can tell this will not only sunset the client in the NVidia SHIELD, but also the server inside GeForce Experience.

Meaning that even if we use Moonlight, we’d be affected by this. However, there’s always Sunshine, which is the open server counterpart to Moonlight as the client. There’s no reason either of these should no longer work.
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Sunshine is basically an open host for game streaming via Moonlight that is compatible with AMD, Intel, and Nvidia GPUs. In addition, it boasts low latency, which is essential for this segment.

Those interested in starting to experiment with Sunshine can download it through its official Github repository.

Something important to know is that you will need a driver for Sunshine to detect your gamepad. The driver in question can be downloaded through this link.

Also, you can access all the documentation needed to configure Sunshine at this link.

If you are interested in more alternatives for Cloud Gaming, you can check our coverage on options to replace Google Stadia.

NOTE: You can also check the Nvidia Shield bugs/issues tracker.

Featured Image: Nvidia

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