Gaming used to be an activity that required powerful and expensive pieces of equipment, but some of the latest advances in technology mean that this is no longer the case. South Africa is the latest country whose gamers can discover how to get a quality gaming performance without spending a fortune on the latest PCs.
The Arrival of Cloud Gaming Services
One of the most dramatic gaming advances in recent years has been the way we purchase access to games. Rather than having to buy physical copies of all the games we want to play, we can now go online and use cloud gaming services to access them anywhere at any time.
The idea is simple, as the service provider runs the games on their servers and you pay a monthly or annual fee to access them, as well as having access to the titles you already own. The clever part of this approach is that you get a high-quality experience regardless of how powerful your computer is as you can access your games on any device with no need to download anything.
Best of all, the power of your processor and graphics isn’t going to hold you back or limit the games you can choose. There are several services available on a global basis, such as PlayStation Now and Amazon Luna, but South Africa has been left behind until now. The reason for this is that it requires a huge amount of investment in server infrastructure and testing to introduce this service safely.
Thankfully, recent reports confirm that the Nvidia GeForce Now cloud gaming service is now being offered to South African users, who will be able to access games on Steam, Ubisoft, or the Microsoft Store, depending on their existing subscriptions or the titles that they own.
Nvidia has teamed up with the Rain network to offer GeForce Now to selected customers who might want to join the Beta phase of the rollout. The companies are working together closely and looking for feedback before moving to the next phase. More than 1,500 games are already supported on this service and users need a minimum internet speed of 5Mpbs for 720p games, although 25Mbps is required for the higher 1080p resolution games.
The Rise of In-Browser Games
Not so long ago, the only games you could find for your browser were incredibly basic Adobe Flash efforts. The first browser game was launched way back in 1995, with the text-only Earth 2025 providing the breakthrough. While Flash games have largely fallen out of favor due to technical issues, newer technology such as HTML5 has ensured that we now have excellent alternatives.
In-browser games can be found on free sites like CrazyGames, where you can play alone or in multiplayer mode. A recent article on Game Rant lists some of the best browser games with a multiplayer option, and they include titles such as Deeeep.io, Smash Karts, and Geoguessr, which reveals the diversity of themes and ways of playing now possible.
We can also find a huge collection of browser games with the best online casino deposit methods in South Africa, where ZAR Casino, Fastpay Casino, and Lucky Days Casino are among the top options. These sites offer a welcome bonus with bonus funds or free spins and each includes numerous slots and table games you can play directly in your browser. The emergence of live dealer games adds a fresh twist, as the action is live-streamed directly and smoothly into your browser.
Mobile Gaming Keeps Growing
Mobile access is another area that has improved massively, as you can access many games directly through a free app or in your mobile browser without downloading an app. A list of the best Android browser games complied by Android Police includes Tetris and Subway Surfers, while apps like 8Ball Pool have been downloaded by tens of millions of users and can be used on most modern smartphones – although they definitely won’t work on a home-made rotary dial phone like this.
The latest figures suggest that mobile gaming is now more popular than PC games. The research by Newzoo for their Global Gamers Study 2023 found that 47% of us play on different platforms, with 79% of gamers using mobile devices, 43% playing on PCs, and 41% using consoles.
All of these different ways of playing mean that it’s now far easier for gamers in South Africa to find the games they’re interested in and play them in a way that makes sense for their lives.