Nvidia GeForce Now has been introduced to the gaming industry with flair and a unique new take on gaming. While it may not suit everyone, this streaming service for games is bringing the cloud gaming fad back into the spotlight.
However, with such a new and unique addition it's left many players questioning what it even is and if it's worth getting in the first place. While that is an entirely personal opinion, it's always worth researching before making a decision, especially if it's something many have doubts about. Nevertheless, before buying, it's worth knowing a few things about the Nvidia GeForce Now.
7 What Is GeForce Now?
Essentially GeForce Now is a streaming service in which the player is able to play PC games through their Android mobile, laptop, desktop, Mac, and more with ease and with the ability to pick the game up to where players left off.
It's ideal for gamers who tend to be away from their setups a lot and primarily serves as a cloud-based storage system for games and progress. Such a design enables the ability to load games quickly and with no need to actually download them all over again on the desired console and no fear to lose important progress on vital scenes.
6 The Different Memberships
There are three different tiers of membership available on GeForce Now and each offer different servers, frames per second, and session lengths.
The free version is more for the basic gamers who don't expect to use it very often. It offers:
- Standard access to gaming servers
- One hour of gaming per day
The Priority version, which can be purchased for one month or six months is more for the players who expect to play a fair amount every day and who believe they will get their money's worth when using GeForce Now. It offers:
- Ray Tracing
- Priority access to premium servers
- Six hours of gameplay a day
- The ability to play at 1080p
- Around 60 FPS
The last, and most expensive membership option is called the RTX 3080 version. It's for the hardcore gamers and for those who want the best quality experience whenever and wherever they can, although they will need setups capable of such quality; a laptop from 2009 might not cut it. It offers:
- Ray Tracing
- Exclusive access to the RTX 3080 servers
- Eight hours of gameplay per day
- The ability to play at 4K (setup depending)
- Around 120 FPS (setup depending)
5 Players Get Limited Hours Per Session
As previously mentioned, one of the biggest drawbacks of the Nvidia GeForce Now is the fact that players are only allowed to game for a certain amount of time. Thankfully it's not too short if the higher membership has been purchased but it can still stunt those late-night gaming sessions.
The limit on hours can and will get frustrating if anyone is a hardcore gamer and they cannot realistically use this as their primary source of gaming because of such a drawback. While six or eight hours of gameplay is quite a lot, certain gamers will want to play more than this, especially if they're away from any commitments.
4 How Much It Costs
Things like this are never free and players can expect to pay a monthly or bi-yearly sum if they want to enjoy cloud gaming like this. Luckily, there is a way for players to try this out before buying the free version. It might be only an hour of gameplay a day but it's enough for the busy gamers or those that want to try it out and see the hype for themselves.
The membership cost isn't the cheapest but the one players choose all depends on their dedication to gaming, how much free time and cash they have, and what kind of quality they want to play with.
Membership Type | 1 Month | 6 Months |
|---|---|---|
Priority | $9.99 | $49.99 |
RTX 3080 | $19.99 | $99.99 |
3 Does It Mean Free Games?
Unfortunately, since Nvidia doesn't make video games themselves, players cannot expect to be getting all the available games for free. That being said, there are free games available on the service but it primarily deals with paid titles.
The player will need to buy the games in advance and have them downloaded on at least one of their setups before expecting them to be playable on the cloud. This may be frustrating but when the game isn't downloaded there's nothing to save. Games can be purchased from a variety of sellers including Steam and Uplay.
2 Play Any Steam Game
When it comes to PC gaming, Steam is a bit of a giant in the marketplace. If PC players don't have Steam then it would be an oddity rather than something gamers would understand. This is primarily due to the number of games present on the website and the price at which they sell. It has everything at the touch of a button and is essentially Amazon for PC games.
So, having Steam available on the Nvidia GeForce Now opens the service up to a plethora of fantastic games for any gamer to enjoy. The likelihood is that a lot of PC gamers will already have many games preinstalled, meaning they can start using the service right away and to the best of their abilities.
1 System Requirements
Unfortunately, players can't really be expecting to play the AAA games on their old laptops. If it doesn't have the specs then it won't be able to do what players want it to do, especially when ray tracing is involved.
Thankfully, the streaming service does have a few system requirements players will need to have before purchasing a membership and trying to play any games. The system requirements change according to the device and can be found on the website but it's well worth checking if it's possible to play before buying a membership.