Ant Esports is well known in the budget segment. They have amazed us with several offerings at crazy prices, and have become a premium choice in the affordable segment. Being a company based out of India, Ant Esports is slowly starting to branch out to other services as their business grows. Their next move comes in a unique form with a cloud gaming service.
This was rather unexpected, as cloud gaming is not an easy thing to pull off. We have seen big companies like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft avoid India as a country to introduce cloud gaming before. Their ideology was simple, “The Indian market won’t be interested in the concept of cloud gaming.” But, Ant Esports might change the entire cloud gaming scenario.
About the Brand
Ant Esports is the brainchild of the tycoon importer and distributor, Acro Engineering Company. They started with Ant PC, a System Integrator (SI) based out of New Delhi, India. Next, we got Ant Audio, a company well-known in the budget audio products market. After that, they launched Ant Esports, a company dedicated to manufacturing computer cases, power supplies, and peripherals especially in the budget portion of the industry. As a company, they saw a lot of success due to aggressive pricing, sound after-sales service, and creating genuinely good products at a price point that is rather avoided by SIs and gamers. AntPlay is Acro’s next venture, and this is something like never before.
What is AntPlay?
AntPlay is a cloud gaming service much like Google Stadia, Amazon Luna, Xbox Cloud Gaming, but also much not like them. The difference between these signature services and AntPlay is in the way they handle cloud streaming. Google Stadia and Amazon Luna would give you a UI that needs to be run out of your hardware. Then you can jump into a game by simply clicking launch, and the game would run on the hardware packed in Google or Amazon’s servers. AntPlay is nothing like that.
AntPlay allocates an entire Windows 10 PC to users. The PC is on 24×7, so you can jump into action any time. AntPlay is currently using Parsec to stream the remote PC to your device. However, they are reportedly working on their proprietary software to handle the streaming. Once you log into your Windows 10 remote computer, you can use it just like you would use your PC, buy games from Steam or Epic Games, and play them as usual.
The overall concept is a bit simple for an average user to take in, and we think this may be the best cloud gaming system introduced into any subscription service. Although the service is currently in beta, it works like a charm, and one can easily use it without any hiccups.
Plans Available
AntPlay was initially offering two plans to their subscribers. These included:
- First plan:
- 4 vCPU
- 16 GB RAM
- Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 6 GB GPU
- 400 GB SSD
- 50 MBit/s upstream
- Second plan:
- 16 GB RAM
- Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB GPU
- 512 GB SSD + 1 TB HDD
- 50 MBit/s upstream
The first plan costs around ₹999 ($13.41) for 7 days, ₹1999 ($26.83) for 15 days, and ₹2999 ($40.25) for 30 days. This is quite cheap. While you might look at it as a gaming subscription, at first sight, you must consider the fact that it can nail almost any kind of workflow, starting from school work to video editing or other creative endeavors since you get access to an entire PC.
AntPlay recently discontinued the second, more expensive plan due to some internal issues. That plan was an epitome of performance and value, coming in at just ₹3999 ($53.67) for a machine with an RTX 3060.
Usability and Compatibility
AntPlay’s compatibility is sweet since you can access it from any device Parsec is available in. These include Windows, macOS, Android, Google Chrome, and Raspberry Pi. This is revolutionary as it lets you use a quite powerful PC from an Android device or even a media PC. However, you need to have a 5GHz connection if you are using Wi-Fi or be on a 5G network if you are planning to play on cellular data. That hinders usability a bit because 5GHz connections have exceptionally low ranges. Also, 5G networks are in their early stages of adoption with lots of problems in the technology. Other than these issues, this plan looks quite interesting.
Data Handling
AntPlay gives users a clean SSD or HDD (depending on the plan) to begin with. That drive can be used by them freely as long as they stay subscribed. If your subscription ends, and you do not renew your plan, the respective system stays offline for 48 hours during which it is formatted (any data is erased) and then reassigned to other users.
We have no idea concerning how Acro Engineering Company is handling data security. We will update this article once the information surrounding this topic becomes clearer.
Conclusion
AntPlay seems like a solid competitor in this expanding industry of cloud gaming. Cloud gaming is still in its infancy, and the service still has a lot to improve. Also, in an expanding economy and a booming market like India, AntPlay can set strong roots and be the vanguard for other companies to follow. The insane affordability and ease of use make AntPlay a hot recommendation not only for gamers but also for professionals and creators who need a system to use on the go.