Seven years after AMD Link's initial release in 2017, AMD has decided to discontinue the game streaming software, citing "many options available for users to stream their PC content to other devices" in the official announcement post regarding the end of the service. Support will end in a future Q1 2024 AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition update.
Over time, though, it seems like AMD has decided that game streaming from an AMD-powered PC is best done with third-party software solutions that are capable of leveraging AMD GPU hardware encoding, rather than dedicating resources to it itself. Here are three solid options to replace AMD Link within your PC Remote Play setup.
- Steam Link / Remote Play — Steam Link and Remote Play Host functionality is included with the main Steam install on your PC. For Android or iOS you'll need the Steam Link App. For Remote Play from other PCs, another Steam client is needed. Functionality may vary with non-Steam games.
- Parsec — Parsec is a cross-platform PC game streaming application, targeted at both Remote Play users and online multiplayer gamers. This should work with pretty much any game on your PC.
- Moonlight + Sunshine — Moonlight is an open-source Nvidia Gamestream client, and Sunshine is an open-source Nvidia Gamestream host— that can be used with an AMD GPU host PC. It should works with pretty much any game on your PC.
The AMD Link alternatives listed above are listed roughly in order of difficulty to use and performance. Moonlight + Sunshine can get the best results, but is the most difficult to setup, while Steam Link/Remote Play is dead-simple but restricted mostly to Steam games and not quite as performant as Parsec or Moonlight + Sunshine. All listed solutions should work perfectly fine on Linux or Steam Deck, as well, especially with an attached keyboard.
It's a little sad to see AMD drop its official Nvidia GameStream competitor, but there is fortunately no shortage of alternatives for people who want to keep game streaming from their AMD PCs.
