Measurement of Cloud-based Game Streaming System Response to Competing TCP Cubic or TCP BBR Flows

Abstract

Cloud-based game streaming is emerging as a convenient way to play games when clients have a good network connection. However, high-quality game streams need high bitrates and low latencies, a challenge when competing for network capacity with other flows. While some network aspects of cloud-based game streaming have been studied, missing are comparative performance and congestion responses to competing TCP flows. This paper presents results from experiments that measure how three popular commercial cloud-based game streaming systems – Google Stadia, NVidia GeForce Now, and Amazon Luna – respond and then recover to TCP Cubic and TCP BBR flows on a congested network link. Analysis of bitrates, loss rates and round-trip times show the three systems have markedly different responses to the arrival and departure of competing network traffic.