In the aftermath of Apple’s groundbreaking decision to greenlight game streaming services for iPhones, AMD has made its own waves in the realm of mobile game streaming—albeit with a less auspicious announcement. The company has disclosed its decision to terminate support for the AMD Link mobile app, a platform enabling gamers to stream games from PCs equipped with Radeon graphics cards to Android and iOS devices, while also offering remote control and monitoring of PC gaming functions. Notably, this system will no longer be integrated with AMD’s Adrenalin driver package moving forward.
AMD’s rationale, as surfaced by VideoCardz.com, underscores the shifting landscape of remote gaming solutions since the inception of AMD Link in 2017. With the proliferation of alternative options, including Steam Link for local PC streaming and services like Xbox Game Pass and Nvidia’s GeForce Now for cloud gaming, AMD perceives its own platform as redundant and is redirecting its resources elsewhere.
Although the decision may come as a surprise, particularly given the substantial user base of the AMD Link app—reportedly downloaded between one and five million times on the Google Play Store—it reflects strategic considerations. Despite receiving mixed reviews, with an average rating of 2.9 out of 5, on the Google Play Store, the AMD Link app on iOS garners a more favorable reception from a comparatively smaller user cohort. Nonetheless, with Apple’s download metrics undisclosed and only 11 written reviews as of now, the impact remains somewhat contained.
Presently, both the Android and iOS iterations of the AMD Link app remain available for download and presumably operational. However, it’s anticipated that its functionality will be phased out with an upcoming release of the AMD Adrenalin desktop software package.