Traditional online gaming barely uses any bandwidth. Cloud gaming — Xbox Cloud Gaming, GeForce NOW, PlayStation cloud streaming — turns that math on its head. Instead of your console rendering the game locally and sending tiny inputs to the server, the game runs entirely in a data center and streams a live 1080p or 4K video of itself to your screen.
That means cloud gaming is bandwidth-hungry. GeForce NOW recommends at least 25 Mbps for 1080p 60 fps and 45 Mbps for 4K. Xbox Cloud Gaming is similar. And unlike a Netflix stream, cloud gaming cannot tolerate buffering — every dropped frame is an input that never registered. It is a much less forgiving use case than watching a movie.
For anyone considering cutting the console cord entirely and going cloud-only, a fast connection is not optional. You need consistent throughput, low latency, and a wired connection whenever possible. If you are trying to figure out whether your current plan can handle cloud gaming plus everything else your household is doing, the Spectrum guide on the best internet speed for gaming and streaming live has good household-size recommendations.
