NVIDIA's GeForce Now Service is Launched - And You Can Stream Games for Free

[Raevenlord]

NVIDIA today has finally launched its GeForce Now streaming gaming service, and users can enjoy partial amounts of free gaming under the business model. There are two tiers of users on offer: Free, and Founders. The free tier, which you may give a go to check the streaming infrastructure and if it's something you would enjoy paying for, is limited to 60-minute play sessions. This means that after the clock has stopped ticking (with potentially intrusive pop-up notifications reminding you of how much time you have left every 10 minutes), you'll be forced to quit the game, and submit yourself to a playing queue until your next 60-minute window is up. RTX isn't available in this tier, though - so if you also wanted to see for yourself what the raytracing talk is all about, you'll have to pay $5 (monthly subscription) to cross that particular river.

Founder-tier members, however, will be able to enjoy the latest RTX-enabled games. The only ones listed on the service, for now, are Wolfenstein: Youngblood, Call of Duty: modern Warfare, Metro Exodus, and Deliver Us the Moon, which NVIDIA has recently started bundling with select RTX graphics cards). There is still a catch though: play sessions will be limited to 6 hours, after which time you'll be brought back to a gaming queue (though you'll have precedence over Free tier accounts, should there be many Founders-tier players in the queue, you might have to wait a while). There's a limited-time 90-day introductory period of which you can take advantage while subscribing for the Founders tier right now, which means you will only be billed after that 90-day grace period is over. Remember - you have to own a digital copy of the game you want to play in any of the more popular storefronts, such as EPIC and Steam, before you can game - but it's still a nice way to experience RTX should you currently own a non-RTX-enabled graphics card.





System requirements for NVIDIA's GeForce Now are as stands:

• 15 Mbps internet connection (25 Mbps recommended). A 5 GHz network is preferred if using wireless.
• Any Windows PC running Windows 7 (64-bit) or higher, 4 GB of system memory, a 2.0 GHz dual-core X86 CPU or higher and a GPU that supports DirectX 11.
• Any Mac with macOS 10.10 or higher.
• Any Nvidia Shield TV (2015, 2017, 2019; Base and Pro models).
• Any Android phone running Android 5.0 (L) or higher and 2 GB of system memory.
• A Bluetooth gamepad is strongly recommended, including the Shield controller, Razer Raiju and Junglecat Mobile, or Steelseries Stratus Duo.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[cucker tarlson]

not gonna catch on

 

[Easy Rhino]

From the very beginning Nintendo got this right. Buy game. Put game in console. Play game.

These days you have to jump through a million hoops before you can even get to the intitial loading screen. I don't think streaming services is going to solve the problem.

 

[Lindatje]

No thanks Nvidia, we don`t want that.

 

[Space Lynx]

From the very beginning Nintendo got this right. Buy game. Put game in console. Play game.

These days you have to jump through a million hoops before you can even get to the intitial loading screen. I don't think streaming services is going to solve the problem.

Microsoft Xbox PC Game Pass also got it right, download the full game, offline play allowed, and only $5 a month for a massive library of great games indie and AAA alike. I love it.

 

[TechLurker]

I wonder which will collapse first; this or Stadia. I'd probably say Stadia since Google half-asses the support for anything that isn't Gmail or Google office-like productivity apps.

MS has a great service in their Game Pass option, allowing for offline play and at a flat rate of 5 or so USD. It'd be nice if Sony would do the same, considering they too have a sizable collection of exclusives and games going back to PS1 days.

 

[Space Lynx]

I wonder which will collapse first; this or Stadia. I'd probably say Stadia since Google half-asses the support for anything that isn't Gmail or Google office-like productivity apps.

MS has a great service in their Game Pass option, allowing for offline play and at a flat rate of 5 or so USD. It'd be nice if Sony would do the same, considering they too have a sizable collection of exclusives and games going back to PS1 days.

Yeah I wish Sony would figure out a way to make PC better, I tried Playstation Now last year, it was horrible latency... I have 1 gig down internet too. It just was awful, I mean it was only a few milliseconds off don't get me wrong, but it just ruined the immersion entirely. I'm surprised anyone plays Playstation Now honestly.

I wish Sony would port God of War and other exclusives to PC, aiming with a controller sucks...

 

[TheLostSwede]

Actually, this is quite interesting, as I have a laptop that doesn't have the hardware to play games, but this way, I could play games when travelling if I get bored, which is often the case on business trips when you're stuck in a hotel in the middle of nowhere. I think it has its uses, but it's obviously not going to replace purchased games. As long as the price is kept reasonable, why not? It's not a service I would use instead of having "local" games on my PC for any foreseeable future, but it might just have its place.

 

[nis]

Actually, this is quite interesting, as I have a laptop that doesn't have the hardware to play games, but this way, I could play games when travelling if I get bored, which is often the case on business trips when you're stuck in a hotel in the middle of nowhere. I think it has its uses, but it's obviously not going to replace purchased games. As long as the price is kept reasonable, why not? It's not a service I would use instead of having "local" games on my PC for any foreseeable future, but it might just have its place.

The only problem with that is the lack of decent internet "in the middle of nowhere" will mostly make it unusable.

 

[EarthDog]

The only problem with that is the lack of decent internet "in the middle of nowhere" will mostly make it unusable.

I mean..... what can you do?

Actually, this is quite interesting, as I have a laptop that doesn't have the hardware to play games, but this way, I could play games when travelling if I get bored, which is often the case on business trips when you're stuck in a hotel in the middle of nowhere. I think it has its uses, but it's obviously not going to replace purchased games. As long as the price is kept reasonable, why not? It's not a service I would use instead of having "local" games on my PC for any foreseeable future, but it might just have its place.

My wonder is lag. I'd imagine playing only with people on that platform it would be a level playing field, but are users who play the game locally and not stream, will there be a notable (for the masses) advantage?

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

Doubt this service will be overly popular, but it will slice its own niche. I have doubt about the selection of free games, I can almost guarantee there will never be new releases, not including indie market, which will make up the bulk of the so-called free games. I also see a lot of complaints about the time constraints here.

As if there isnt enough game launch platforms out there. Who is next? AMD? Twitter?

 

[Space Lynx]

Actually, this is quite interesting, as I have a laptop that doesn't have the hardware to play games, but this way, I could play games when travelling if I get bored, which is often the case on business trips when you're stuck in a hotel in the middle of nowhere. I think it has its uses, but it's obviously not going to replace purchased games. As long as the price is kept reasonable, why not? It's not a service I would use instead of having "local" games on my PC for any foreseeable future, but it might just have its place.

If it has better latency than Playstation Now it might be viable, but if you can "feel" a delay from button press to what you see on screen, it really ruins the immersion. I'm looking forward to trying this out though regardless.

 

[Xzibit]

It only took them 7 years to get out of Beta.

 

[bug]

Actually, this is quite interesting, as I have a laptop that doesn't have the hardware to play games, but this way, I could play games when travelling if I get bored, which is often the case on business trips when you're stuck in a hotel in the middle of nowhere. I think it has its uses, but it's obviously not going to replace purchased games. As long as the price is kept reasonable, why not? It's not a service I would use instead of having "local" games on my PC for any foreseeable future, but it might just have its place.

Of course it's not going to replace purchased games, it requires you to purchase the game before spending an additional $5/mo to play on the road

 

[Vya Domus]

It only took them 7 years to get out of Beta.

It's worse than that.

This started out in 2008 with Nvidia GRID, so this has taken an astonishing 12 years to create something resembling an end product where the main objectives and problems it set out to resolve have still not been entirely met. I wonder how much of a money sink hole this was.

 

[birdie]

So many talented business analysts here.

Oh, wait, some nonamers who believe they know how to earn money ... yet they leave comments on one of a gazillion tech websites on the Internet because they have so much spare time.

It's almost laughable except it's just sad and pathetic.

Especially all the talks about Google Stadia is gonna fail regardless despite the fact that the platform is the cheapest way to game. You don't need a PC, you don't need a console, just a TV and a controller. Oh, and games run at the highest settings.

 

[windwhirl]

Honestly, I'd like to try it. Latency would probably ruin it for me, but still, at the very least I would complain with reason

Sadly, but completely expected, the service is not supported in my region.

 

[Berfs1]

"bluetooth gamepad is strongly recommended"
*has wired keyboard and mouse*
*big brain confused*

 

[windwhirl]

"bluetooth gamepad is strongly recommended"
*has wired keyboard and mouse*
*big brain confused*

Truly, I don't get it either. I mean, why wouldn't I prefer wired devices, which do not suffer from interference from the +100 WiFi, Bluetooth and other wireless devices surrounding me?

 

[Fluffmeister]

Quite happy to give it a go, the cost of entry is cheaper after all.

 

[Xzibit]

Especially all the talks about Google Stadia is gonna fail regardless despite the fact that the platform is the cheapest way to game. You don't need a PC, you don't need a console, just a TV and a controller. Oh, and games run at the highest settings.

Well when you get reviews comparing the two and you get this.

While the streaming quality isn’t quite as good at Stadia at its best and I wouldn’t recommend it for competitive gaming

Looks like it might need to invest in securing rights as well.

While Nvidia has a substantial list of hundreds of titles, including huge multiplayer hits like Fortnite, DOTA 2, Overwatch, PUBG, Destiny 2, and Rainbow Six Siege, it’s also conspicuously missing top games from Capcom, EA, Konami, Remedy, Rockstar, and Square Enix, even though most of those publishers participated during the beta period.

Does this count against your time limit ?

It’s also worth noting that there are over 1,000 games that Nvidia supports but doesn’t cache locally in its server farms, meaning you’ll need to “download” them to Nvidia’s servers each time you play.

Download 80% complete... Your session time has expired. Disconnected...

 

[Fluffmeister]

We get it, it's not for you.. or anything Nvidia.

 

[TheLostSwede]

The only problem with that is the lack of decent internet "in the middle of nowhere" will mostly make it unusable.

Really? If we're talking the US, the middle of Vegas has crap internet...
Been in hotels in India, Vietnam and what not that have had really good internet, but ymmv...

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

Download 80% complete... Your session time has expired. Disconnected...

AOL nightmares

 

[Berfs1]

Truly, I don't get it either. I mean, why wouldn't I prefer wired devices, which do not suffer from interference from the +100 WiFi, Bluetooth and other wireless devices surrounding me?

I guess having wireless is preferred if you wan't to game casually in the living room, which now that I think about it, this actually would be suited towards families who don't want to invest in the ever-growing PC market, but want to have fun every now and then. And I did say "families", and not specifically "gamers" because this plan would actually be good for those who don't have epic gaming PCs or don't want to get involved in that stuff. Could replace consoles in a way, since consoles get their money from multiplayer services, such as Xbox Gold and stuff like that.