I signed up to give Shadow a try a few months ago, as the service offered looked OK and I don't really have room for a dedicated gaming rig at home. My Shadow "server" was ready after a few days. I signed in and installed a few of my games. All appeared well - well for a bit anyway........., then the following happened:
- Shadow wouldn’t boot. There is an option to restart through the Shadow application, which works on occasion, but generally doesn't.
- I booted up a couple of times and the graphic card drivers had popped smoke and f*cked off.
- Contact helpdesk and wait (and wait, and wait, and wait) until they got back to me.
- I tried to log in to Shadow and was given the Windows BSOD, after a Windows update mangled itself.
- Contact helpdesk and wait, and wait, and wait until they got around to fixing it. You can disable Windows updates, which I had done - so Christ only knows why the update still ran.
I finally contacted Shadow support in order to give them an ultimatum (ie. fix it, or f*ck off), they first tried to blame my internet connection (ha). Considering the problems which I identified, I couldn't fathom how that might be the case - anyway I played along for a bit, then forwarded on the results from Entuity (network analysis tool), which showed that at no point had my bandwidth dropped below 45Mb/s (if memory serves) over the period in question, I then stated that none of the issues I'd described could have in any way have been as a result of my non-existent network issue anyway.............
I was finally informed that Shadow does not work properly with Sky broadband, so they could not provide me with a resolution, but I was welcome to cancel my subscription and any money paid would be refunded. No worries I thought, so I cancelled my contract, every month since, they've tried to take my monthly subscription fee...........
Despite my initial misgivings (as I've always preferred PC gaming), I've subsequently taken the plunge and bought (well coerced 0A into buying me one for Valentine's day anyway) an XBOX One X. I've even acquired a number of XBox games which I've already got on my 6th gen i7 laptop (Elite: Dangerous, Battlefield V, Doom & Far Cry: New Dawn) - there's simply no contest. As far as I'm concerned, less the likes Civ VI and other strategy games, PC gaming is dead*.
It is good idea in principle, unfortunately ran (in this case) by shysters/snake oil salesmen/the clinically brain-dead.
Steer well clear.
I'd give it a few years for the technology to mature properly and for more reliable vendors to enter the market.
* Before anyone chirps up with the fact that the XBOX One X doesn't support VR, neither does Shadow.....