Logitech, the $5 billion company best known for its workaday keyboards and mice, has a bold new product that’s worlds away from its basic computer peripherals. Today, the company is announcing the G Cloud, a handheld gaming device created specifically for playing cloud-based video games. Retailing for $349, the device will begin shipping in October.
The global market for portable gaming devices was $32 billion in 2020, according to one analysis, and it is expected to reach more than $50 billion by 2027, with established players like Nintendo and Xbox driving growth. Logitech’s Ujesh Desai, who led the G Cloud’s development, says gaming is about to have its Netflix moment, in which cloud-based games will be instantly accessible through a platform subscription, no expensive game console or cartridges required. “The infrastructure is there,” he says. Logitech is hoping to cash in on the momentum.
To that end, the G Cloud has an unfussy form factor, with a white plastic shell, more than a dozen buttons and controls, and a 7-inch, multi-touch screen. Designed to be comfortable to play for extended periods of time and for hands of various sizes, the device is lighter than others on the market and less bogged down by internal hardware. For the gaming equivalent of Netflix browsing and binging, the G Cloud is trying to make starting and playing a game as easy as possible. “We support the Microsofts, the Googles, the Apples of the world. We respect where their strengths are, and our job is to fill in areas where we think we can add greater value,” Desai says. Forits partnership with Microsoftspecifically, Logitech is framing the G Cloud as a natural companion to theXbox Game Passsubscription service.Logitech hopes consumers see its new device as a more accessible version of those alternatives. By focusing specifically on cloud-based gaming, the G Cloud is smaller and lighter than the Steam Deck, and more straightforward to use than the add-on gear made for turning smartphones into gaming devices.
Without the need for heavy internal central and graphics processing units and the fans they require, the G Cloud has a slim profile that makes it fit more easily in hands of various sizes. The designers paid special attention to the long-term feel and weight of the device, given that some gamers are likely to use it for hours at a time. This focus, and the lighter hardware requirements, make the G Cloud a particularly light gaming handheld, weighing 463 grams, or about 1 pound. By comparison, the Steam Deck weighs 669 grams, about a half-pound heavier.
With its mostly white body, the G Cloud looks a bit different from most of the tech-forward and gadget-proud video game hardware on the market, including that made by Logitech itself. “We didn’t want this to just be another black lump of plastic,” Holmung says.
Desai says the decision between the established gaming aesthetic and the softer approach was like a fork in the road for the design team. “We stayed at the center of that fork for a while. We really debated it a lot,” he says.
In the end, the team opted for a design that felt more open, and less restricted to the hard-core gamer segment of the market. Desai, a gamer himself, says the design is intended to appeal equally to gamers and non-gamers.
“What we think the future that folks like Microsoft and Nvidia are trying to paint is they want to make these game subscriptions accessible to everyone,” Desai says. A basic handheld device, with Netflix-like simplicity, could be a way for these cloud-based gaming services to reach more people. “We think this is just a new way to play,” Desai says.
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