Someone got The Witcher 3 running on a smartwatch, and you can too

Summary

A Redditor was able to play The Witcher 3 on their Galaxy Watch Ultra.
The game is not running locally, and is being streamed on GeForce Now through the watch’s web browser.
While a cool demonstration of the Galaxy Watch Ultra’s capabilities, it’s not the best way to experience PC games.

Typically, when you think of a smartwatch, you think of a device used to check the time, wake you up in the morning, track your fitness goals, and view your notifications. However, have you ever considered using your smartwatch to play PC games? Probably not, but one Reddit user has.

A Redditor by the name of BranaMitrovicFloyd posted a video of them playing The Witcher 3 on their Galaxy Watch Ultra using GeForce Now, on-screen controls, and a stylus (via Android Authority).

While the Galaxy Watch Ultra’s display isn’t optimized for playing PC games, it surprisingly doesn’t look half-bad, and you can see Geralt running around pretty clearly. However, latency appears to be an issue. You can check out the video of The Witcher 3 running on a Galaxy Watch Ultra below.

Brand: Samsung
Heart Rate Monitor: Yes
Color Screen: Yes

The Galaxy Watch Ultra is a rugged, titanium smartwatch with a new Quick Action button that you can assign to a shortcut of your choice.

A wrist with the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra is held in front of a blurred yard.

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How is The Witcher 3 running on a smartwatch?

It’s not running natively on the Galaxy Watch Ultra

If you’re wondering how a AAA PC game like The Witcher 3 is running on a Galaxy Watch Ultra, it’s because the game isn’t running locally on the watch. The Galaxy Watch Ultra’s hardware isn’t powerful enough to play AAA games, but it is capable of running a browser and streaming them.

That’s where Nvidia’s GeForce Now comes into play, a paid subscription service that allows users to stream PC games directly to their web browsers or the GeForce Now app. Nvidia’s servers handle all the work of running the game, enabling users to play it via the cloud on nearly any device. In the video posted to Reddit, The Witcher 3 is running on GeForce Now through the Samsung Internet Browser app on the Galaxy Watch Ultra.

Honestly, playing a game like The Witcher 3 isn’t ideal on your smartwatch. The on-screen controls look difficult to press, the field of view isn’t great, and there seems to be quite a bit of latency when you tap any of the controls. However, it is still a cool demonstration of the Galaxy Watch Ultra’s capabilities, nonetheless. If you really want to, it’s technically possible to connect a Bluetooth controller to the Galaxy Watch Ultra to avoid using the on-screen controls, but latency may still be an issue. If you have a Galaxy Watch Ultra and a GeForce Now subscription, it may be worth trying this just because you can.