LiquidSky's Version 2.0 Adds Ad-Supported Plan, Updated Performance Packages

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LiquidSky is still in its early stages, but the company just released version 2.0 of the new gaming streaming service. The update includes support for Windows PCs as well as new and updated payment plans.

LiquidSky users pay for the service with a monthly or pay-as-you-go plan. The company discussed an ad-supported plan in January, and now it’s available for users in lieu of paying money for the service. With this free alternative, you can earn up to 600 SkyCredits (the currency used for game time) per month to use. In order to earn these SkyCredits, you “must engage with ad partners,” which means that you’ll have to watch some advertisements during your gameplay.

If you signed up for the free plan, you’ll be allowed into the LiquidSky beta in “boarding groups” or small batches of users. Access to the software is based on “beta server and early ad inventory availability,” but even then, the company said that “the ability to earn free SkyCredits [is] not guaranteed at this time.” You can take a look at the differences for all three payment plans below.

In addition to a payment plan, you also get to choose from three “performance packages,” some of which received an upgrade. The company said that its Gamer and Pro packages now have up to four times the performance increase. The base Gamer package, which allows you to play games in 1080p with at least 30fps, uses 2GB of video memory, three virtual CPU cores, and 8GB of RAM. The middle Pro option will let you play at 60fps on 1080p. It uses 4GB of video memory, six virtual CPU cores, and 16GB of memory.

Last month, the company announced a partnership with AMD, which would bring the Vega GPU architecture to LiquidSky’s machines. However, the new increase in performance is not because of the new GPUs, which have yet to roll out. We were told that the it's the result of another partnership, this time with Nvidia, to use its server-based GPUs. Aside from the new plan and performance increase, other features in the new version include a reduction in latency as well as a new UI.

At the moment, LiquidSky works only on Windows PCs, although there are plans to support Android, Mac, and Linux devices in the future. The company will bring on additional features in the coming months. This will include support for DirectX 12, PC peripherals that support USB 2.0 and higher, implementation of a SkyLounge Community Hub, and the introduction of an Elite Performance Package that will provide framerates of up to 100fps.

Rexly Peñaflorida
5 Comments Comment from the forums
  • renz496
    lol i thought that LiquidSky is fully owned by AMD just how GeForce Now is owned entirely by nvidia
    Reply
  • derekullo
    So I get to pay $5 a month to play 6 hours worth of 1080p at 60 fps games

    or

    Pay $10 a month to play 10 hours worth of 1080p at 60+ fps

    I guess this would be perfect for the super light gamer that wants to play games at grandmas once a month and doesn't have a laptop, although that sounds highly niche.

    What they need is an unlimited plan, say $30 a month for as many hours as you want, or $20 a month and drop the resolution down to 720p.


    On their website https://liquidsky.com it says:

    "Through LiquidSky you experience up to 1GB/sec download and 100MB upload speeds, regardless of your local Internet connection. "

    The first part could stand on its own, up to 1 GB/sec download and 100MB upload speeds. (Assume they mean gigabit but ill just let that slide and call it a typo)
    It's the next line that comes off as, to put it nicely, wizardry.

    They are probably looking at lawsuits if somehow their service is able to magically override the bandwidth limitations of my ISP.

    Unless they are saying their compression is able to compress a 1 gigabyte text file of all 0s into a trivial amount of space and call that 1 gigabyte a second of download.

    In which case it amounts to false advertising.

    Am I missing something?
    Reply
  • Jeff Fx
    19527251 said:
    So I get to pay $5 a month to play 6 hours worth of 1080p at 60 fps games

    or

    Pay $10 a month to play 10 hours worth of 1080p at 60+ fps

    I guess this would be perfect for the super light gamer that wants to play games at grandmas once a month and doesn't have a laptop, although that sounds highly niche.

    What they need is an unlimited plan, say $30 a month for as many hours as you want, or $20 a month and drop the resolution down to 720p.


    On their website https://liquidsky.com it says:

    "Through LiquidSky you experience up to 1GB/sec download and 100MB upload speeds, regardless of your local Internet connection. "

    The first part could stand on its own, up to 1 GB/sec download and 100MB upload speeds. (Assume they mean gigabit but ill just let that slide and call it a typo)
    It's the next line that comes off as, to put it nicely, wizardry.

    They are probably looking at lawsuits if somehow their service is able to magically override the bandwidth limitations of my ISP.

    Unless they are saying their compression is able to compress a 1 gigabyte text file of all 0s into a trivial amount of space and call that 1 gigabyte a second of download.

    In which case it amounts to false advertising.

    Am I missing something?

    The use I can see for it is PC gaming on a tablet once they deliver Android support. I may try it to see how the 4K gaming us before I get a 1080Ti.

    When a service offers a particular bandwidth, it's understood that it can't make your home connection faster than what you bought. People can sue for anything, and often do, but I'd be very surprised if any suit wasn't dismissed.
    Reply
  • cryoburner
    19528352 said:
    The use I can see for it is PC gaming on a tablet once they deliver Android support. I may try it to see how the 4K gaming us before I get a 1080Ti.
    Except based on the info here, they don't seem to offer 4k streaming at this time. And even if they did offer 4k, that doesn't mean it would look anything like 4k rendered on a local machine. Like all video streaming services, they have to compress the video feed before they send it to you, and a compressed 4k stream won't likely look any better than uncompressed 1080p rendered locally. Likewise, their currently-advertised 1080p streams probably don't look any better than 720p rendered on your own system in most games, due to compression artifacts muddying details.
    Reply
  • alidan
    19527251 said:
    So I get to pay $5 a month to play 6 hours worth of 1080p at 60 fps games

    or

    Pay $10 a month to play 10 hours worth of 1080p at 60+ fps

    I guess this would be perfect for the super light gamer that wants to play games at grandmas once a month and doesn't have a laptop, although that sounds highly niche.

    What they need is an unlimited plan, say $30 a month for as many hours as you want, or $20 a month and drop the resolution down to 720p.


    On their website https://liquidsky.com it says:

    "Through LiquidSky you experience up to 1GB/sec download and 100MB upload speeds, regardless of your local Internet connection. "

    The first part could stand on its own, up to 1 GB/sec download and 100MB upload speeds. (Assume they mean gigabit but ill just let that slide and call it a typo)
    It's the next line that comes off as, to put it nicely, wizardry.

    They are probably looking at lawsuits if somehow their service is able to magically override the bandwidth limitations of my ISP.

    Unless they are saying their compression is able to compress a 1 gigabyte text file of all 0s into a trivial amount of space and call that 1 gigabyte a second of download.

    In which case it amounts to false advertising.

    Am I missing something?

    gpu - 300$
    cpu - 300$
    ram - 100-200$ possibly far more depending on how good it is.

    If you are a lighter gamer, as in sub 20 hours a month, or you just play certain games for 50 hours and are done till the next iteration, I could see this as being a fantastic value as you don't need a powerful computer do run the game, you can do it on a crapbox at this point. you also likely wont over run the games to the point that it would have been cheaper to buy the hardware yourself.

    This is not aimed at the 'hardcore gamer'
    Reply