You have probably heard a lot about cloud gaming. The game library is not large. You must repurchase the games you already own. It is inferior to the PC game. Lag makes most games unplayable. Depending on the cloud gaming platform, some of these things may be true. But NVIDIA sets the record straight with GeForce NOW. Technology has come a long way, and the performance and features on offer can offer parity with PC gaming in ways you probably didn't know.
Are the graphics not good?
If you tried to stream content over a poor internet connection, you may experience poor visuals. But with a good internet connection, you'll realize how difficult GeForce NOW is under the hood to deliver exceptional visuals. NVIDIA offers an RTX 3080 subscription for GeForce NOW that provides an experience that the vast majority of gamers don't get from their gaming PCs or consoles. There's enough power to deliver 1440p at 120fps or 4K HDR. Nvidia's RTX real-time ray tracing is also on hand to provide realistic reflections and lighting, a power-hungry rendering technique that will make many computers sweat.
And all that power works behind the scenes, in the cloud, so you can enjoy it on your phone, MacBook, streaming device, or even a humble Chromebook. Pretty much anything you can connect to the internet with and also connect a controller or keyboard and mouse. Running this heavy processing in the cloud also means your power bill and room heat don't rise like they would from a local PC.
Does lag make games unplayable?
If your internet experiences increased lag, your online games will be unplayable whether you're using the cloud or a local system. But with a fast internet connection, you'll find that GeForce NOW is more than enough to deliver a responsive gaming experience. NVIDIA servers offer stable performance that can help deliver consistent frame render times, helping to minimize this lag component. With RTX 3080 membership, you'll enjoy even faster frame rendering and more efficient encoding. On a modest internet connection, your inputs are likely to be as responsive as playing on a console. NVIDIA also offers plenty of tips for optimizing your latency. As NVIDIA has expanded its service, it will be easier for you to find servers that may be closer to you (and therefore lower ping).
Not enough games?
If you look at the poor game service, you may feel that there are not enough games to play. If you look at the huge list of titles supported by GeForce NOW, you might change your mind. GeForce NOW has a library of over 1000 games, including AAA titles from popular publishers like EA Ubisoft, Epic and more, as well as critically acclaimed indie hits. Its library includes graphically stunning games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Far Cry 6 with RTX On and DLSS for stunning visuals and exceptional performance. The service also offers nearly 100 free titles, including industry titans like Fortnite, Apex Legends, and Destiny 2.
Do you need to pay for games you already bought?
Depending on the cloud gaming service, you may need to repurchase a game, even if you already have it in your PC's game library. Fortunately, NVIDIA GeForce NOW is not one of these services. This subscription is for PC cloud gaming platform, not games. In fact, you can connect to Steam, Uplay, the Epic Games Store, and GOG.com to access their libraries and play supported games through GeForce NOW. Not only do you not have to buy them again, but you also don't have to wait to download or update them. This is especially useful if you like to play games on many different devices. You won't download the game half a dozen times and you won't even have to find storage space for your games. The amount you'd need to spend on storage to keep a thousand games available across all your devices at all times makes GeForce NOW's $10-$20 subscription cost seem even more of a bargain than it already is.
Can't play with your friends?
You have to be on a console to play with your console friends, and you have to be on a PC to play with your PC friends, right? It's just that: when you use GeForce NOW, are using a gaming PC. This gaming PC is in the cloud, but it's still a gaming PC. You can connect with your friends as if you were on your own local PC. For games that support cross-play, you won't miss out on this feature either.
If you're still skeptical about cloud gaming, why not let NVIDIA GeForce NOW prove that it's the real deal? You can subscribe here to enjoy all the benefits of the service, from 4K HDR or 1440p/120fps to near-instant game downloads and PC games on a wide variety of devices. You can even try the service for free to try it out. And if you think it's good now, you should know that it keeps getting better. To stay up to date with all the new games and developments on the service, you can log in to the weekly GFN Thursdays blog or follow GeForce NOW on Facebook and Twitter.