Nvidia Reportedly Drops Shield TV Support for GameStream

Nvidia has said that the Shield TV will lose its native GameStream support in mid-February next year, 9To5Google report(Opens in a new window).

GameStream is a feature Nvidia offered to gamers who own a PC using an Nvidia GPU. The function allows the PC to stream games to another device, such as a Shield TV, over a local network.

Shield TV, a media streamer from Nvidia, has offered GameStream functionality as a part of the pre-loaded NVIDIA Games Android TV app. The feature is otherwise not available on Android TV, 9to5 Google reports.

PCMag reached out to Nvidia for comment on why it was removing ShieldTV support for GameStream but did not immediately receive a response. 

Nvidia launched Shield’s GameStream feature back in 2013. Its launch also included the Shield Gamepad Mapper, a programming interface that lets users map the physical gamepad controls of the Shield to touch-screen controls on certain games.

For continuing users of GameStream, Nvidia recommends using Stream Link, which supports streaming in up to 4K, as well as its GeForce Now cloud gaming service.

The email, reposted in full by 9To5Google said:

“Starting in mid-February, a planned update to the NVIDIA Games app will begin rolling out to SHIELD owners. With this update, the GameStream feature will no longer be available. SHIELD users can continue to use GameStream until that time. Visit our FAQ(Opens in a new window) for more information.

SHIELD users can stream games from their PC using the free Steam Link app(Opens in a new window). Visit the Steam Link site(Opens in a new window) to learn more.

We also invite you to stream PC games from the cloud using NVIDIA GeForce NOW(Opens in a new window).”

Earlier this month, Chinese GPU vendor Colorful allegedly leaked the next graphics card in Nvidia’s RTX 4000 series by publishing a product listing for the RTX 4070 Ti. 

Colorful’s website briefly hosted the product listing, before removing it.