Cloud gaming has become one of the newest ways to play on mobile devices, promising console and PC quality in a portable package. One of the companies throwing their hat into the ring is Spanish cloud gaming company Nware.

They reached out to us to offer some of their thoughts on the industry and what they believed was the unique appeal of cloud gaming, as well as other insights about the situation on mobile. With their cloud gaming service in beta at the moment, Nware is competing in a market with many major companies, like Xbox Game Pass, Playstation Plus and Nvidia GeForce NOW already having carved out an audience. We got the chance to put some questions to Co-Founder & CEO of Nware, Daniel Olmedo about where he believes his company is differing from the rest of the crowd.

Can you give us a brief description of your company’s mission statement and its history?

Daniel: We created Nware to democratise access to video games through our cloud gaming platform, bringing people the freedom to play any game, anywhere, without the need for expensive high-end devices! The company was founded in September 2017 in Madrid, Spain, and we released the Nware BETA in April 2020. Today, Nware enables users to play games purchased on digital video game retailers, such as Steam, Epic Games and Ubisoft, on any device. The platform is currently available for Windows PC and Android mobile devices.

Can you tell us more about how your system and business model works?

Nware completely changes how gamers play by running their video games on cloud servers sending a hyper-real time streaming to the user’s device, whether this is a “potato” laptop or a smartphone, freeing gamers from purchasing expensive gaming hardware.

When it comes to putting your service on mobile, what are the major infrastructure and format considerations? How do you integrate control schemes etc?

What is great about cloud gaming is that there is no specific game integration required, since the game is not running inside users' devices. We have developed new network protocols and video decoding optimizations to ensure the best experience regardless of the network conditions.

The steps we are taking include developing a virtual gamepad for mobile devices, so that users can customize their own layout for each game, and we are also looking to release an SDK for content creators in the future, so they can define different control schemes for each of the devices in which Nware is present.

Do you see cloud gaming being a major competitor to native mobile game development in the near future?

Cloud gaming is going to open a whole new segment inside the mobile games space. Users will have the possibility to play demanding games on their mobile phones just as they are already playing mobile versions of PUBG and LoL. Game publishers see strong potential in mobile channels, but porting all of the existing video games to be compatible with mobile devices is an impossible task. That is one of the reasons why cloud gaming is a great solution to provide access to more demanding content, without game publishers having to port video games and without users having to occupy space on their mobile phones.

Your service is available on Android, but not on iPhone, are there any plans for the latter? Have there been any major hurdles to having your service on iOS?

Bringing the Nware platform to new channels is definitely at the top of the list. However, there is still much uncertainty regarding Apple's policies for cloud gaming platforms. We know that in the end everything will take the right and fair course for gamers, hence our commitment in providing access to Nware for iOS users. We are currently focused on releasing Nware for web browsers at the beginning of 2023, so that iPhone users can enjoy their video games on their mobile devices. We will create a built-in Nware app for iOS when the right time comes.

You’re based in Spain, how much interest in gaming, specifically mobile, are you seeing there? Has there been a major demand for cloud gaming on the go?

Spain is a country full of gamers, with four in every five Spaniards being game enthusiasts, and mobile being the most popular platform.

In the case of Nware, we are a global platform, with special interest coming from North America, Latin America, and Europe. The demand for cloud gaming has increased significantly in the last few years due to the wider user knowledge about the space.

We have also observed a huge difference in terms of device preference to access games in Nware depending on the region, Latam being the largest market in mobile access. In the case of India, which is a mobile-first gaming market, we have also experienced the same demand for cloud gaming.

Finally, what’s the biggest hurdle you think you’ll have to overcome, and other businesses like you, in getting your service onto mobile in future?

Every time there is a huge shift in an industry, there are obstacles to overcome and cloud gaming is no exception. The good news is that these challenges are being overcome as we speak, and users from all over the world are increasingly adopting cloud gaming as an alternative to traditional gaming.

Cloud gaming through mobile devices brings together the benefits of portability and immediacy to discover and access gaming content, and Nware achieves this because it is the only platform in the market that provides real access to all games.

So overall we can see that companies like Nware are optimistic about the future of cloud gaming. With areas like LatAm and Spain becoming increasingly important for mobile gaming, capitalising on this niche may prove to be a smart decision on the part of companies like Nware. Brazil for example saw a feature in one of Newzoo’s reports earlier this year which pointed to a great deal of crossover between mobile players and those on other platforms.