Nvidia GeForce Now poised to eat Google's lunch

GeForce Now is Nvidia's game streaming service that was just launched publicly.

• Free tier with a 1-hour limit
• Paid tier with priority access and 6-hour limit
• Access games on your Steam, UPlay, EGS libraries
• Totes 20ms latency, which is very good
• Works on many devices
• Ray tracing in the cloud
• No 4K

Is streaming appealing when you're on the go and you have access to part or all of your existing library?

What does everyone think?

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I've been thinking Stadia is pretty much a non-starter without access to existing libraries. This could also mean that since the stores mentioned are working with Nvidia they may be contractually prohibited from also working with Google. On paper this is streaming done correctly.

I also head that you may be unable to sign up for Nvidia GeForce now if you are too far away from one of their server nodes, but that is unsubstantiated.

Interesting nonetheless.

Oh no! Streaming is trending. The old bags are going to revolt.

Streaming lol, say hi to stadia in the bad gaming BS graveyard for me GeForce.

Well, I'd say that GeForce (and XCloud as well, for that matter) are doing the right thing by selling themselves as a supplementary service to traditional gaming. The technology just isn't there for streaming to completely replace traditional home hardware-based gaming just yet, if it ever will be, so selling it as a supplementary service for now makes far more sense. Going straight for a full console replacement selling point was Google's biggest mistake.

Time will tell, of course, but GeForce Now is off to a decent start.

@madrocketeer: Supplementary is exactly where the market it is at the moment. The ability to continue playing the same game on your existing devices is truly a benefit to these services and not a replacement. Replacement is the future not the now.

I tried it on my LG Android, it's pretty decent. much better than xCloud I played months ago. Still a input delays, didn't try any MP games. Far Cry 4 and Civilization V almost seamless, very high quality. But half games in Android are missing and I can't understand why the Witcher is not listed in Android?

We're still at least another 20 years away from "game streaming" to be an actual thing. I'm talking 5G and possibly 6G networks available in nearly every home type of connectivity. Most people in 3rd world simply don't have fast enough internet for this type of stuff. And let me be clear, I'm not looking forward to a Dystopia game streaming era myself. Digital gaming is as far as I'll go and I love it, but NOT streaming my games. I already know this will be in the distance future and it's not a matter of how, but when?

I haven't tried GeForce on my Nvidia Shield in quite some time, but last time I tried it... well it was pretty much a disaster too. I'm sure it's a better experience than Stadia (especially now) since it actually worked last time I tried (in some capacity) while Stadia couldn't even work at the lowest levels.

For games where input lag isn't important it's pretty good I think. For anything VR or input sensitive, it's a hell no from me.

Streaming...

Not a fan of streaming games. Latency and picture quality will be compromised for the foreseeable future. Still, anything is better than Stadia.

I agree. I will be local gaming for the foreseeable future, although it would be nice to have a streaming option that just works.

Stadia actually works well when it comes to game streaming. Yeah there is video compression and yeah there is input latency. It works better than you'd expect though. Still not a great option if you can just play locally. What's not great about Stadia is the monetization strategy. Having to buy games at full price on a streaming platform without a transferable license is just a non-starter if they want to get the service off the ground.

Streaming is interesting tech, and does provide opportunities that are not possible with local gaming so I hope it sticks around - and I think it will. Specifically the wifi controller idea and the implications on massively multiplayer gaming. I hope Stadia sticks around and I think it's short-sighted to wish for its failure.

It's also hilarious that people seem to hate it because they are scared of a streaming future. All I have to say is - It's not going to work like that.

Physical copies or local downloads for me. Not that I want any service to fail. I just like owning my games. And not having latency

How long did it take Mobile Gaming to overtake all other forms of gaming combined? Yeah, it was less than a decade. More like almost half a decade.

People will always prefer convenience over true quality.

@Pedro: Streaming isn't a supplement or future replacement lol, its already dead, a bloated carcass on the side of the road.

Sure. You are free to believe what you want to believe.