Netboom boasts a slew of modern AAA games and hundreds of thousands of users, but is it for you?
Netboom is a cloud gaming company based in Singapore, which was founded in 2019 when a group of young people wanted to play PC games on their phones.
The Offering
The model here, for the most part, is similar to most if not all cloud gaming platforms. But with the added extra of paying for a set number of hours. The monthly options are as follows; for £8.99/$9.99 a month you get 90 hours of playtime split into 3 hours a day. For £25.49/$30 a quarter you get 180 hours of playtime split into 6 hours a day. And finally, you can buy an annual subscription for £89.99/$99.99 offering you unlimited playtime. All subscriptions can be cancelled at any time. As mentioned earlier, you can also pay for a set number of hours: 5 hours is £3.99/$4.99 up to 25 hours for £19.99/$23.99. It is worth noting that if you subscribe via the app on your Android phone, you can use your Google Credit. This is ideal if you have some credit from any Stadia Refunds.
Both options give you access to a large library of games. Some you will need to own yourself on Steam to play (similar to GFN). Whereas a lot of others are offered on what they call a “Shared Account”. In addition, if you want to play a game that you have on another store like Epic Games or Battle.net, for example, then there is the option to use “PC mode” to log into your accounts and install/play from there (similar to how Shadow works).
In the Discord Server, the devs have mentioned that they do intend to integrate other game libraries directly into the fold as well. Such as Epic Games Store.
The Library of Games
On their homepage, Netboom boasts 300+ Free to play games with more added each month. With this, coupled with some Steam games, you should be able to find something to play. You can expect to find pretty much everything, including games that are not available on the bigger platforms such as Xbox Cloud or GeForce Now. Games like Elden Ring, Dying Light 2, Final Fantasy VII REMAKE INTERGRADE and many more.
Here is a good place to highlight my first red flag: “Account Sharing”. I can pay my subscription, go to the website and boot up games such as GTA V, Resident Evil Village, Left for Dead and Dead by Daylight without owning them. I can save my game as well. But, good luck in finding it the next time you play, as every single save game is visible – from every other player using the shared account!
Account Sharing aside, the choice of games playable via Steam (where you need to own the title) is extensive. A lot of newer games are included such as Plague Tail: Requiem, Warhammer Darktide, God of War 2018. It’s not clear how some of these are included while they remain missing from GeForce NOW for example. They could be operating under a model that asking for forgiveness is easier than asking for permission. This may mean there is a chance that games could be removed from the service (for technical or other reasons) with little or no warning, so be careful.
My second red flag is the games that you can play without owning in “offline mode”. Resident Evil 2 and 3 remake, Days Gone, Spider-Man to name a few are all fully playable. Despite the name, you are still playing the game online via cloud. But the game itself is not “online” meaning there are no multiplayer options. And unlike “Account Sharing”, you cannot save your game at all! Which, for all story based games, is a huge problem!
Accessibility
Thanks to its native app and browser options, Netboom is quite accessible. On the Download page of the site they have links to an Android App, an iOS app as well as links to play in your browser as well as your mobile browser for phones and tablets. Currently, there is no Android TV app or anything for Samsung or LG TVs. Although this could change in the future.
You can use all the standard controllers via Bluetooth or wired connection like all other cloud gaming services, which lowers the barrier of entry. There does seem to be on screen controllers available to some games, but my experience of this wasn’t great. Sometimes the controller didn’t appear. Other times it wouldn’t register my touch. I would stick to physical controllers for the time being.
They also have a link to download the APK file direct from them if you need to sideload the app. We advise against that if you have access to the Play Store, as there is no 100% guarantee it hasn’t been tampered with. There appears to be no difference between the two; so I would download via the Play Store for extra piece of mind.
The iOS app isn’t actually an app for Netboom. The link is for something called “Fingertips Games” which looks to be an app to look up games. I don’t understand why they decided to link it on their website. To play on an iOS device you will need to use the browser version which does also have a link.
Visuals and Performance
Visually, Netboom is good. It isn’t up there with Xbox Cloud or GeForce Now. There are some noticeable artifacts if the game is visually heavy and fast moving, such as Spider-Man. There is a lot of pixelation in the background and when the buildings are swinging by. However, games such as The Stanley Parable look fine.
I have tested Netboom on my laptop with an Xbox Series controller, both with Bluetooth and wired. Also on my phone with a GameSir X2 Pro and a Bluetooth controller. In all instances, I found a noticeable latency between the controller and game. It is less noticeable when wired than over Bluetooth, but it is there. If you signed up to play Elden Ring or games like that, then you could be in for an even rougher time.
Of course, your mileage may vary. You may not experience any latency issues or graphical glitches. But coming from Stadia and Xbox Cloud, it is very apparent they are there with Netboom.
Final Verdict
In my honest opinion, for a certain niche of gamers, Netboom could be a solid option. However, for me, it is not a viable option. I didn’t have a good overall experience with latency. The graphical issues are something that I could live with, but the delay in movement etc. was too much for me. I don’t have a huge Steam library, so I can’t benefit from playing them here. The red-flags I mention above lead one to wonder what level of collaboration/cooperation the service has with publishers. There could be a risk that some bigger games eventually are removed from the service.
The ability to play games I haven’t purchased is always good. Xbox Game Pass does this, but the way Netboom goes about it doesn’t sit right with me. Account Sharing feels off, and playing games without the ability to save is a big problem. It is a service that I will be keeping an eye on. There are many places where it can improve. If they can make these improvements, then it may become a viable option for future gaming. They have done a lot of good work for a small team.
