After many years of beta testing (and patience), NVIDIA’s own game-streaming service is now official and off the beta-bench – and looks to crush all known competitors due to its surprising price point and innovative features.
2 years. Not counting the time when it was known as NVIDIA Grid, a Netflix-type subscription model for PC gaming that was discontinued and sent back to the drawing board, that is how long the modern version of GeForce NOW has been in beta (since 2018). The pitch? Imagine taking remote control of a $6,000 Tesla graphics card (an expensive beast of pure gaming power) through the cloud to play games that would never even start on your low-end, $300 laptop. Imagine not having to worry about lengthy 30-minute download times, instead having your games ready to go in the blink of an eye – literally. Then imagine doing this wherever a (albeit) strong WIFI or Ethernet signal exists, then sitting down and enjoying 1080p HD streaming quality that (almost always) runs extremely well.
During my years at college, I found myself as one of the lucky people who, after signing up for a waitlist for the beta and anxiously waiting for two months, found that GeForce NOW is a major game-changer – then proceeded to invest hundreds of hours logged onto the service, exploring just how far this technology could go. Like the title itself, NVIDIA’s software makes it supremely easy to begin using almost excruciatingly difficult to put down (except being booted off after staying on for four hours straight).
More importantly, however, this service proved to its customers and rivals alike that harnessing the power of the cloud could level the entire playing field between those who had an expensive gaming rig and those who could not simply afford the expense. Speaking as a person who used this technology frequently, I would always question myself as to how long this type of service would be in *ahem* a free state. Given how Google Stadia released its own game-streaming service (to mixed reviews and a lack of support for its small group of users) and even Sony (PlayStation Now) and Microsoft (xCloud) are creating their own streaming services with prices in check, it was only a matter of time before NVIDIA would put a number on its value.
And it finally has. As of one day ago, GeForce NOW is official and ready to roar onto scores of devices (yes, mobile devices are also compatible with GeForce; though only Android devices work) with not only a premium tier, but also a free one. Even though the free tier has short session lengths and those who use it are given less priority that those who are premium members, it is a wonder that in this day and age, a software as functional as GeForce NOW can be offered for free for anyone who has even an inkling of interest in it. And at $4.99 per month (at least for now), the premium membership could be a no-brainer, especially for those who have been using GeForce NOW for the past couple of years.
Touching on the financial impact that this could have, there is no way of telling just how deep of an impact this service may have. Considering how transcendent this technology really is (it is in gaming, hardware, and streaming all at once), competitors like AMD, Google and Microsoft could maybe seen as inferior when taking GeForce NOW’s maximum capabilities into consideration. NVIDIA deserves a round of applause, however, for its official rollout of its service and its continued dedication to the future of gaming and supporting an entire community that enjoy the product for what it is and what it represents.
This kind of news, frankly, makes me happy to look at both from the perspective as a customer and as a businessperson. Giving something a couple of years a good, slow cooking time and taking all sorts of feedback and improvements into account is one of the surefire ways to get something off the ground like how NVIDIA is handling GeForce NOW. It could possibly lead to a swift takedown of the struggling Google Stadia and if given the proper time and coverage that it deserves, it is entirely plausible for the service to reach juggernaut results and completely upend the way gaming is done today.
Photo Credit: AnandTech
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This was quite an informative article.
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