Nvidia Launches its GeForce Now Game Streaming Service

Well, it’s official. After months of talk and speculation, Nvidia has officially launched its GeForce Now game streaming service. Now, if you were not aware of GeForce Now (or what the general concept of game streaming is), this is the latest service to allow people to stream and play a library of games direct from their PC, laptop or any other compatible smart device. In other words, you don’t need the hardware, just something that can (essentially) handle the internet bandwidth and video playback.

With this package offered by Nvidia, however, there is an intriguing option. Namely, that you can enjoy this service without having to pay for it.

Nvidia GeForce Now

So, as you might expect, Nvidia has a ‘standard’ subscription package that costs you £4.99 a month. With this, the main advantage is that you can play RTX compatible games with the technology turned on. What is surprising, however, is that there’s also a free tier! Yes, absolutely free! With, of course, some catches.

While the free tier allows you access to the same 30 games currently on offer, there are some limitations to it. Firstly, you will only be able to play the game/s for a maximum of one hour per session. Once your timer is up, you’ll have to sit in (what will presumably be a relatively substantial) queue before you can try something else. In addition, you can’t enable any RTX features within games.

System Requirements

• 15 Mbps internet connection (25 Mbps recommended). A 5GHz network is preferred if using wireless.
• Any Windows PC running Windows 7 (64-bit) or higher, 4GB of system memory, a 2.0GHz dual-core X86 CPU or higher and a GPU that supports DirectX 11 or a 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 2GB of system memory.
• A Bluetooth gamepad is strongly recommended, including the Shield controller, Razer Raiju and Junglecat Mobile, or Steelseries Stratus Duo.

What Do We Think?

Honestly? More than anything I’m really surprised that a ‘free’ tier has been offered. Let alone one that seems perfectly fair and more than good! Quite frankly, I think this is an amazingly smart move by Nvidia. It’s, essentially, an un-ending demo version of the platform that might just be enough to tempt more than a few people into paying for the ‘full’ version.

If you do, therefore, want to download or learn more about it, you can check out the official website via the link here!

What do you think? Are you impressed with this package? Thinking of giving Nvidia GeForce Now a try? – Let us know in the comments!