Cloud Gaming With Nvidia GeForce Now

Nvidia's GeForce Now is one of the most popular and longest running game streaming services, with over 30 million users. However, the cloud gaming service recently announced an adjustment to its memberships, including a limit on monthly usage time. An overview and a hands-on report.

Cloud gaming is still waiting for its big breakthrough. With this technology, games are run on a server, in the cloud or in a data centre, and streamed to the user's device. Input from a mouse, keyboard or controller is then sent to the cloud machine to be processed. This means that the data has to travel a longer distance than if the game was played locally, but it also offloads the computing load.  What is the market like since Google closed down Stadia? Amazon continues to run Luna quietly. Microsoft and Sony have integrated their cloud streaming services into Game Pass Ultimate and PlayStation Plus Premium respectively.

Of the big names, Nvidia's Geforce Now (GFN) is still around. However, not all games can be played on GeForce Now; users must already own the game in a specific library, and only titles approved by developers and publishers are available. The streaming service Boosteroid follows a similar concept. There are currently over 2,200 games available on GeForce Now, including many popular AAA and free-to-play games, but not all. For example, all of Sony Interactive Entertainment's PC titles are missing. The range of games is being expanded on a regular basis. Nvidia usually announces which titles are coming to the streaming service every Thursday. For example, the latest update included Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and Path of Exile 2 for the Day One launch, but not the two free-to-play titles Marvel Rivals or Delta Force, which were launched at the same time. To market the streaming service, Nvidia is also using the latest games available on GFN.

In the early days of the service, it was possible to buy games through GeForce Now, but that hasn't been possible for years. Instead, users can sync their own game libraries with GFN, giving them direct access to the games they already own. In some cases, however, users will need to log in to the relevant platforms from the GeForce Now app after launching the game. Not all games are available on these platforms, 'only' selected ones, but the list is long. For more information, see the list of supported games. The following platforms and login options are available.

• Ubisoft – automatic login; game library sync
• Battle.net – no automatic login; game library sync
• Epic Games – automatic login for Fortnite only; no game library sync
• Steam – no automatic login; game library sync
• Xbox – automatic login; game library sync
• EA App – no automatic login; no game library sync

You can't think of it as a remote server with a desktop or anything like that. Games are launched directly from the GeForce Now app or in the browser. The app/browser then connects to the cloud server, which then prompts you to log in to Steam, for example, in order to use ONLY that one selected game. When you quit the game, the connection to the cloud server is disconnected. If you want to start another game, a new connection to the cloud is established, you log in again, and so on.

Locations, Memberships, Pricing Model and Bandwidth

According to Nvidia, the service has more than 30 million users in more than 110 countries, excluding Russia and China, as well as large parts of Central Africa. There are more than 30 data centres in total, including twelve in the US and ten in Europe, including Germany (Frankfurt), the Netherlands, the UK, Sweden (Stockholm), France (Paris), Spain, Portugal, Poland and two in Turkey. Nvidia operates GeForce Now in other regions with partners including Taiwan Mobile in Taiwan, Zain in Saudi Arabia, Abya in South America, Rain in South Africa, and Pentanet in Australia. Without this vast network of data centres, a cloud gaming service like this would be unthinkable.

GeForce Now is available in three subscription models. The free version is ad-supported plus waiting times due to availability and offers a streaming resolution of up to 1080p at up to 60 fps. A session can last up to one hour. Many advanced features are not included. In my opinion, this is mainly an offer to try out the service. Then there is the Performance membership, which used to be the Priority membership. It allows a maximum streaming resolution of up to 1440p at up to 60 fps. Until the beginning of November 2024, the resolution of this offer was limited to 1080p and only ultra-wide resolutions were supported, which were previously only available to Ultimate members. Performance members (€10.99 per month) can save their in-game graphics settings across streaming sessions. RTX features are also available in supported titles. A session can last up to six hours. There is no limit to how many times a member can start a new session per day. DLSS Frame Generation, HDR and Reflex are not supported. The latter features are included in the Ultimate membership (highest level at $21.99), which offers the option of streaming at up to 4K 120 fps or up to 1080p 240 fps from GeForce RTX 4080-based gaming rigs to the cloud.

From 1 January 2025, Nvidia will introduce a maximum monthly playtime of 100 hours for new Ultimate or Performance members, which equates to just over three hours a day using the service every day. This is an unusual move aimed primarily at hardcore users. According to Nvidia, this adjustment is necessary to "provide zero wait times for all paying members without increasing membership fees". The company says that the maximum playtime adjustment will affect less than six per cent of the GFN members. In addition, up to 15 hours of unused time will be automatically carried over to the next month. Playtime can be tracked in the account portal and additional hours can be purchased if needed. Those with a paid subscription at the end of 2024 will receive an additional year of unlimited game time (until 1 January 2026), after which they will be subject to the new monthly limit. GeForce Now Founders members will continue to receive unlimited hours of play for life, as long as their membership does not expire. By the way. An unlimited streaming option will no longer be available.

Nvidia writes about the bandwidth required for streaming games: "GeForce Now requires a minimum of 15 Mbps for 720p at 60 FPS and 25 Mbps for 1080p at 60 FPS. We also require less than 80ms latency from an Nvidia data centre. However, we recommend less than 40ms for optimal performance. (...) GeForce Now requires at least 45 Mbps for up to 3840x 160/3456x2160 at 120 FPS, at least 35 Mbps for up to 3840x1440/2560x1440 at 120 FPS for most iMacs or 3840x1600/2560x1600p at 120 FPS for most MacBooks, and at least 35 Mbps for up to 1920 x 1080 at 240 FPS. We also recommend a wired Ethernet connection or a 5GHz wireless router." Resolution scaling is used to reduce network traffic. When playing games on GeForce Now, the local device receives and decodes a compressed video stream of game content set to a specific resolution (such as 1920 x 1080). This resolution is determined by a number of factors, including the settings in the GeForce Now application, the available network bandwidth, and the quality of your network connection. This data is upscaled to the target resolution of the end device using a variety of methods, some of which depend on the GPU hardware.

The following streaming quality options are listed in relation to traffic: - Balanced: 1440p/60fps - approx. 10 GB per hour - Data-saving mode: 720p/60fps – approx. 4 GB per hour - Competitive: 1080p/240fps – approx. 6 GB per hour - User-defined: max 2160p/120 fps – approx. 17 GB per hour

How is the gaming experience on GeForce Now?

The short answer: good to fair, but with limitations, and it's not suitable for all types/genres of games or users - assuming a sufficiently high internet bandwidth and low ping. GeForce Now is not really the right choice for players who are very sensitive to input lag, although in my experience it does take some getting used to. Information on available Internet connection quality follows in the text as well. The hands-on experience began with WoW. I have been playing World of Warcraft (Battle.net) since 2004, so I am used to native PC execution. The MMORPG can also be played without any problems using GeForce Now, but there is a certain 'lag', especially when turning the camera quickly, as well as with keyboard input, but not that bad. It feels a little sluggish, but it is playable.

However, the difference to the usual experience is noticeable. Black Myth Wukong (Steam), which I hadn't played before, runs surprisingly well on GeForce Now, even though the graphically demanding action-RPG requires precise inputs and reactions in the numerous battles. Alan Wake 2 (Epic Games Store) also experienced some lag when using the mouse to control the camera, as did Cyberpunk 2077 (GOG.com), but both titles were playable, even with the graphics set to ultra-high. Only Cyberpunk 2077 failed to launch on two attempts, probably due to the Red Launcher. Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora (Ubisoft Connect) also ran well, and it was even possible to run a benchmark that identified an AMD Ryzen 16-core, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 with 20 GB of video memory. The average FPS (1440p on Ultra) was 65. The performance is impressive, but not at the highest level. Senua's Saga: Hellblade II (Xbox) performed fine on GeForce Now, again with a slightly delayed camera.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle (Steam) can even be played with full ray tracing for Ultimate subscribers, as the RTX 4080 cloud rig has more than 12 GB of video RAM - and in the level tested in the Vatican, the frame rate (DLSS setting: DLAA) was over 60 fps. However, despite the good performance, there is still a noticeable input lag with fast inputs - and with fast camera movements, the re-sharpening of the image is clearly visible when the camera is then left still again. The difference to native gaming is noticeable here. The network test in the GFN app showed latency: 21ms, 0% packet loss, bandwidth: > 75 Mbps; Server: EU Central - all optimal according to the GFN app. The tests were carried out over several days at different times of day to rule out any exceptional circumstances. The end-user device was connected directly to the router with a cable. With other games, graphical artefacts were not as noticeable due to the compression of the stream, but some particle effects and clouds in Black Mythos appeared blurred or grainy, as did the text in the chat or the character names above the characters in World of Warcraft. In principle, the graphics options can be adjusted as you would in a PC game, provided the game offers them. You have the choice of setting these options yourself or using Nvidia's recommended settings, which are also saved depending on the subscription type. I used the GeForce Now desktop application, which described the gaming experience as 'great' in the subsequent diagnostic report for the gaming session, despite some subjective lag and some image issues.

There are two main things that GeForce Now is not really suited to. The first is esports, or competitive gaming, where every millisecond counts. And the second is modding. While the basic versions of games are fine to play, anything to do with user-generated content (such as the Steam Workshop) is hardly possible. There are exceptions, such as World of Warcraft, where selected modifications (more than 20) can be selected from the in-game menu - in collaboration with Curseforge. Nevertheless, playing on GFN is reminiscent of classic PC games, although the server structure means that installation and loading times are very fast. Players have access to the many options available in PC games, and there is progress on shader compilation when the game is first launched (if the games offer both). In addition, the computing load is shifted to the cloud, which means that the energy costs of your home computer are significantly lower, as is the heat generation - both are shifted to the data centre, so to speak.

GeForce Now is available for PCs (laptops, desktops), Macs, Android devices (app in Play Store) and Shield TV. The Android app can be installed on selected TVs and the service is available on newer LG and Samsung TVs. iPhones or iPads can access the service via a browser. And what about handhelds? Nvidia recommends downloading the Windows app for gaming handhelds running Windows, such as the Asus ROG Ally, Lenovo Legion Go and MSI Claw. On Steam Deck, the service can be accessed via desktop mode and a browser such as Chrome. The Razer Edge and Logitech G Cloud come with the app pre-installed. In our experience, the native apps provide the best experience, followed by the browser version - depending on your internet connection and ping, of course.

Disclaimer: Nvidia provided a GeForce Now Ultimate membership - as well as a copy of Black Myth Wukong - for this hands-on experience. There was no obligation to publish an article.