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Steam Cloud Gaming confirmed with Steam Cloud Play

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According to new Steam documents, Valve will be launching Steam Cloud Gaming soon with a Beta of Steam Cloud Play.

It will require developers to opt in, and they're required to support Cloud Saves (or another online save method), otherwise gamers will lose their data. Developers will continue to be paid the same way, since users still need to buy the games on Steam.

Before you get too excited though, the documents say the first service connecting with it will be NVIDIA GeForce NOW. For Linux gamers then, it means next to nothing since NVIDIA have been silent on any plans for Linux support with it. However, it's clearly early on and Valve are still building features and adding to their server capacity.

In the FAQ it does state this:

Will there be other cloud gaming services added to Steam Cloud Play?

We may add additional Steam Cloud Gaming services in the future. At that time we would reach out to you to opt your games into the new service.

Quite disappointing for us here of course. We're still somewhat expecting once Valve has tested the waters with this, and built up all the mechanics around Steam to support all of it, that they would launch their own. Don't think Valve would stay reliant on an external service for too long. The curious part is in the "How to sign up" part, which mentions how developers opting into Steam Cloud Gaming will have it "hosted by Valve" with service providers (like NVIDIA) being the additional. So that perhaps lends some credit towards a Valve service.

If we hear any more on it and / or they announced something that works with Linux, we will let you know.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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About the author -
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
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36 comments
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Uncleivan May 28, 2020
If we link a geforce account to steam we probably can rum the games via streaming without having geforce now installed. What would the point be If you still had to geforce now run at the sane time.

You can already stream from geforce now to a Linux PC running geforce now on a smartphone.
Mal May 28, 2020
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Quoting: The_AquabatYou have a missconception about latin america, maybe?

No. I wrongly assumed that

Quoting: The_Aquabatjust meh another service for the northern hemisphere and other few countries.

was about launching a service that half of the world can't benefit from due to technical limitations.

If you concern is about purchasing power I would say that cloud gaming could actually benefit low income countries more than high ones. It's a definitely cheaper access cost to buy a game and play on cloud (even for a monthly fee) than buy all the hardware and then play the game. But I admit I've no idea how much a modern nvidia card cost in emerging countries so I may be totally wrong here. I guess hardware cost is proportional to purchasing power like for games prices?

My post instead was about technical limitations in places where there shouldn't be. If I have to compare the download speed at my parents house with steam download statistics it sits in between Angola and Namibia average numbers. And, as I said, it's not they live in a remote village of a low GDP per capita region. Their in the third city by size of a region that is on top of European statistics (the purple area in link. By contrast now I'm living in a blue one, although in the regional capital. And I've a connection that is on par with avg South Corea according again to Steam.

My point is, even in first world, not all people is young and connected and demographics are not evenly distributed. So where I see Internet and cloud services as opportunities for remote jobs, faster production tools, easier access to knowledge, useful services and then entertainment as well, many voters just see nothing more than costly playthings (Netflix at best or free porns at worse, depending on how backwards they are). And apart from big cities where connections are widely available because it's easier for private investors to recoup the costs, politicians in charge of non-metropolitan areas often don't have the interest pushing to make adequate Internet access to their voters. Because their electors themselves largely don't care (at least before corona). As a consequence the more dynamic people migrate in the cities. And those that go away (like me lol) are less voters asking for a better Internet.

Ofc these things won't change just because Valve starts offering cloud. My point is that little by little, offer by offer and service by service, general public will start to realize how having performing connections will increase their quality of life. And push for having access to that. So having a new cloud service that only half of the world can use, is actually good for the world as a whole.


Last edited by Mal on 28 May 2020 at 6:31 pm UTC
mylka May 28, 2020
i dont get it why nvidia has a client for STREAMING

why isnt it like stadia with a browser... should be way less maintaining
Uncleivan May 28, 2020
And why they have a client with Microsoft exclusive libraries so Linux wont be allowed to circunvent the limitation with wine because they want good relations with MS? Se need Linus to .!. NVidia again to get the back on their senses . Business as usual.
sarmad May 28, 2020
Meh, I still prefer to just download the game to my Linux machine and play it there.
Mohandevir May 28, 2020
Quoting: mylkai dont get it why nvidia has a client for STREAMING

why isnt it like stadia with a browser... should be way less maintaining

Something about controlling the client?

For Stadia, Chrome is Google's client and they control 100% of it. Nvidia couldn't say the same if they used any known browser, so they created an equivalent Nvidia, Windows only "browser", dedicated to streaming.

Just a guess, I might be wrong.


Last edited by Mohandevir on 28 May 2020 at 8:00 pm UTC
mylka May 29, 2020
Quoting: Mohandevir
Quoting: mylkai dont get it why nvidia has a client for STREAMING

why isnt it like stadia with a browser... should be way less maintaining

Something about controlling the client?

For Stadia, Chrome is Google's client and they control 100% of it. Nvidia couldn't say the same if they used any known browser, so they created an equivalent Nvidia, Windows only "browser", dedicated to streaming.

Just a guess, I might be wrong.

they control the content of the website.... what else do they need to control?
TheRiddick May 29, 2020
We need to build a list of developers and publishers who don't allow cloud gaming with your existing bought copies of games...

Blacklist them all.
1xok May 29, 2020
Quoting: Liam DaweBefore you get too excited though, the documents say the first service connecting with it will be NVIDIA GeForce NOW. For Linux gamers then, it means next to nothing since NVIDIA have been silent on any plans for Linux support with it.

I can't really imagine Steam simply launching the Geforce Now Executable. Geforce Now will provide an API that Steam will use. The streaming frontend has to run through the Steam client, otherwise it won't integrate properly and will only cause problems. Why would anyone use that, when you can also start the Geforce Now directly?


Last edited by 1xok on 29 May 2020 at 8:54 am UTC
Liam Dawe May 29, 2020
Quoting: 1xok
Quoting: Liam DaweBefore you get too excited though, the documents say the first service connecting with it will be NVIDIA GeForce NOW. For Linux gamers then, it means next to nothing since NVIDIA have been silent on any plans for Linux support with it.

I can't really imagine Steam simply launching the Geforce Now Executable. Geforce Now will provide an API that Steam will use. The streaming frontend has to run through the Steam client, otherwise it won't integrate properly and will only cause problems. Why would anyone use that, when you can also start the Geforce Now directly?
It is curious for sure, however, Steam has at multiple times launched features that don't work and don't exist in the Linux client. Remember Broadcasting? :P
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