HELD Cloud Gaming Opens Playtest Phase in Indonesia, and We Tried it

Nuon announced that their latest cloud gaming platform, HELD Cloud Gaming, has entered the playtest phase for a limited time only.

HELD is Nuon’s brand-new cloud gaming platform where gamers can play video games through a mobile or Wi-Fi network. That means players don’t need to download game files and can play straight through their mobile browser.

We had a chance to try out HELD during a media briefing held by Nuon recently, and we can say that it is an improvement compared to many of its predecessors.

How does HELD Cloud Gaming works?

How HELD Cloud Gaming works is very simple. You simply go to their website at https://held.co.id and then register for their playtest program. If your application got accepted, you can play straight away on your phone.

You can choose from many titles available, ranging from AAA titles such as Sleeping Dogs and Life is Strange to indie darlings like Petit Island and Hello Goodboy.

Pick any games you like, and then select the Play button. HELD will first check your connection status and then prepare the game for you to play. They will make sure that you can play the game in 1080p 30 FPS constantly.

During our test, while the game is rendered in 1080p, we seem to detect some image pixelation, but the 30 FPS performance is spot-on. This is already better compared to some previous cloud gaming platforms available in Indonesia.

The pixelated images are due to HELD trying to maximize gaming performance and latency. To ensure constant 30 FPS with low latency, a sacrifice must be made by decreasing image sharpness. Despite that, the image quality itself is serviceable. Think about streaming YouTube from your phone, where you can control the character inside the stream.

HELD supports an external Bluetooth controller, as well as a virtual controller on your screen. The button layout for the virtual controller might need some work in terms of sizing, placement, and layout because at this stage it doesn’t feel that natural.

Latency and input reading also need more adjustment since analog control cannot translate slight movement and correction, so your character could move/steer radically, and you can’t balance/correct it in a right manner.

HELD becomes part of Nuon’s 2026 strategy

Despite some of its flaws, HELD Cloud Gaming came out as a more mature product compared with what came before. Their infrastructure, as well as our network ecosystem, has gotten good enough to make cloud gaming a viable business.

Which is why Nuon is confident to spearhead HELD as part of their 2026 corporate strategy. The Telkom Indonesia-owned digital lifestyle company is ready to face 2026 with their plans to distribute and monetize content.

“Nuon’s core strength lies in its control of digital distribution hubs. With the support of Indonesia’s largest connectivity infrastructure, we are strategically positioned to connect content, users, and monetization within a unified ecosystem. We are mandated to reduce value leakage while ensuring the national digital ecosystem grows independently and sustainably. Indonesia cannot simply be the largest digital market—we must be the masters of our own game,” said Aris Sudewo, Nuon CEO.

With their business units ranging from music, movies, gaming, live events, and esports, Nuon will start developing their own IP and leveraging it through their distribution and monetization platforms.

“With an integrated business structure from IP creation to monetization, Nuon has developed into a strategic digital asset within the Telkom Group portfolio. This model not only expands non-connectivity revenue streams but also strengthens control over the value of the domestic digital economy. In the long term, this integration is expected to increase the competitiveness of the national creative industry while simultaneously boosting the digital economy’s contribution to Indonesia’s sustainable economic growth,” Aris concluded.

The playtest program for HELD Cloud Gaming is available until March 31. Gamers who played for at least 30 minutes during the playtest and filled out a feedback form will receive a free 3-month subscription when the service launches.