Hey there again, here with a quick update regarding the topic.
While Shadow has been reliable and smooth, I have experienced very poor play quality with GeForce Now, and I suspect it has to do with the free tier. As a paying member, I am experiencing a very poor visual quality issue which has persisted since before the pandemic. Even before the pandemic, the popularity of Nvidia has caused a high interest of people to try out their free tier for GeForce Now. I believe this has caused issues with the paying members accessing their games in high quality.
Shadow has not experienced any of these issues, and this may be due in part to their higher cost. Shadow will soon be stirring the pot by adding options, and I have already signed up for a higher tier with more storage. Time will tell if their improved options will overload the servers, but I am hoping that shadow stays steady as they have all along.
This is why competition is important. GeForce Now has effectively created a better Shadow by allowing the diehard Shadow fans the better gaming experience (overall too).
The interesting thing here is that all streaming services are feeling the burn due to increased streaming over Covid-19 concerns. This will be a true test to the reliability and robustness of all streaming platforms.
Just an update after Shadow officially released the sign up options. I have opted for Boost, which is the low tier, however, nothing changes from my current configuration. I might be gifting my son Shadow for his birthday, so with 3 subscriptions I will def want to pay for the cheaper options.
Throughout this pandemic, Shadow has been smooth and GeForce Now has been unplayable due to streaming quality concerns. 1920 x 1080 still is the optimal resolution as I run into issues using my ultra wide monitor, but this goes for GeForce Now too. The funny thing is, Windows 10 will display the full 2560 x 1080, but games usually run into freezing issues, but just run those as 1920 x 1080.
I have upgraded from my Mac mini to a slightly newer and more powerful Hackintosh Lenovo m93p tiny with OC BL. This machine in this current set up has everything working. EVERYTHING. Regardless, this has made no difference running Shadow when comparing it to my older and slower Mac mini, so good job Shadow.
Also, it's worth a mention that Shadow now offers their lower tier at $11.99/month, and they now have upgradable storage so you can store all of your most used games instead of reinstalling every time you play something different. I have run into one issue not related to Shadow, but to the Windows gaming keyboard on Mac, (even with Karabiner keyboard mapper) where I couldn't use the F keys in game. I would have to switch off Karabiner prior to gaming. Now, this actually works out well because while in Shadow you have a Windows KB to match your gaming set up.