Nvidia Hit with Class Action After Removing GameStream from Shield TV Streaming Device

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Nvidia Corporation faces a proposed class action after disabling the GameStream feature from its Shield TV, Shield TV Pro and Shield K1 Tablet PC game-streaming devices. 

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The 24-page case comes months after Nvidia issued to Shield users last December an “end of service notification” that warned, in part, that “GameStream may continue to work for a time, but will no longer be supported and eventually stop working.” In March, Nvidia forced an update to all Shield devices to remove the GameStream feature, and thereafter users were left without access to a core streaming component that they paid for, the suit states. 

As the case tells it, the alternatives offered by Nvidia—Valve’s Steam Link app and Nvidia’s own GeForce NOW service—are poor substitutes for GameStream, in particular due to Steam Link’s high latency and GeForce NOW’s time limitations and cost. As a result, former GameStream users have been forced into the “untenable position” of having to choose between two inferior products while the one they paid for and enjoyed is no longer available, the lawsuit says. 

Nvidia’s Shield devices allowed users to stream games from their PC to their television at up to 60 frames per second in 4K resolution, the suit explains. Shield was Nvidia’s first end-to-end consumer product, and the streaming feature was eventually offered as part of the Nvidia Games Android TV app, the case shares. 

On December 16, 2022, Nvidia released a notification that advised that, starting in mid-February of this year, GameStream would no longer be available to Shield owners, and that if they did not do the required update to the Nvidia Games app, GameStream would eventually stop working. In the notice, the company also noted that all other services supported by Nvidia Games, including GeForce NOW, required the app update to remain functional. 

On March 29, 2023, the death knell rang for GameStream as Nvidia released an update that removed the feature from the Shield TV, the lawsuit continues. 

Since introducing GameStream in 2013, Nvidia had gone to great lengths to promote the feature, touting it as offering gamers a “seamless out-of-the-box experience” in streaming PC games, the filing shares. According to the suit, consumers bought Shield devices equipped with GameStream at a premium in comparison to competing products that lacked equivalent streaming functionality. 

“Despite the steep price tag, Plaintiffs chose to pay the premium because they wanted access to the Shield devices’ GameStream feature. Users were very impressed with this feature and expressed their excitement in public forums, including Reddit. As one GameStream review article explained, Defendant’s GameStream feature was particularly attractive to PC gamers who had large collections of games: ‘One of the nicest things about GameStream is the price: it’s free. Since you’re streaming games you own to devices you own from a PC you own, there’s really nothing to charge for, after all. If your PC has everything it needs, setting up GameStream is pretty much a no-brainer: GeForce Experience handles all the heavy lifting for you. From there, you can stream your PC games pretty much anywhere you are: in the living room, bedroom, Starbucks, or anywhere else there’s Wi-Fi.’” 

The lawsuit says that a petition on Change.org for Nvidia to reverse its decision to phase out GameStream has so far received more than 4,000 signatures, with comments on the petition emphasizing the importance of GameStream to Shield owners. 

The suit looks to cover all persons who bought, in the United States and its territories, new Shield devices with the GameStream feature and who continued to own them on March 29, 2023.

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