First Impressions of GeForce NOW, or (Real This Time) Future of Gaming
Remember Google Stadia? It’s a cloud gaming service that allows you to play videogames on a Google server. No matter how demanding a game is and how “hungry” it is for hardware — Google eliminates this hurdle by providing you best hardware rigs via the Internet. All you need is a basic laptop, a smartphone, or TV to play in the cloud. And a Google Stadia controller if you play on TV.
Despite being a great idea, the service has received a fair share of criticism since its launch in late November 2019. One of the main annoyances of gamers all around the world was (and still is) a very limited set of games available on Google Stadia. The platform launched with only 22 games, and added just 4 more in December. Prior to the release, Google Stadia was promoted as “the future of gaming,” but fell short of justifying that claim. PC Gamer called the platform “not ready for prime time” and branded its launch “disappointing.”
The whole process on Google Stadia is as follows: connect to your Google Stadia account -> select which game to play from a library of games, published on Google Stadia (only a couple available for free, the rest you buy) -> play a game on your device.
Today, 4 Feb 2020, NVIDIA has released GeForce NOW. And to say it is superior to Google Stadia is an understatement. The approach to the service workflow is different from the Google Stadia one: connect to your GeForce NOW account -> add games that you already own (e.g. on Steam or Battle.net) to this account -> play a game on your device, be it a basic PC, Mac, or Android phone.
As you have noticed, the difference is that GeForce NOW lets you play games you already own in most popular online game stores and digital distribution services, thus making the library of available videogames practically unlimited right off the bat, while Google Stadia lets you play only a limited amount of games “let in” and optimized for that platform. GeForce NOW’s adoption is, by design, orders of magnitude faster, since, essentially, it functions as an auxiliary cloud gaming rig for your games, instead of being a “walled garden” platform like Google Stadia is.
The overall gaming experience on GeForce NOW is also impressive. I tried two different games, one owned on Steam and the other on Battle.net. I just had to log into these services on the remote gaming desktop provided by GeForce NOW, and the games’ installation was practically instant. I did not encounter any connection / latency issues at all. Controller feedback-wise, I could not tell the difference between the remote gaming rig and my local PC. As regards available hardware, it was a pleasant surprise that a free account (gaming sessions are limited to a 1-hour duration) lets you run games smoothly on a NVIDIA Tesla T10 with 16GB of VRAM. As NVIDIA puts it, “ You’re upgrading to a state-of-the-art gaming rig.”
GeForce NOW has a subscription model, like Google Stadia. The difference is a more accessible price: GeForce NOW is 2X cheaper (4.99 USD/month during 2020), vs Google Stadia 10 USD/month. Not to mention that Google Stadia pales in comparison with GeForce Now when it comes to a variety of games available from the start.
In contrast with the rocky launch of Google Stadia, the launch of GeForce NOW seems to be a success. To make it possible, NVIDIA invested in a thorough testing of the service: the company informs that 300.000 beta testers from 30 countries streamed 70 million hours of gameplay, on platforms ranging from Mac and PC to mobile.
Very impressive, NVIDIA! It appears that for the first time we have a working and community-appealing service that lets one enjoy a game on a remote machine with the highest possible graphics settings and without ever worrying about framerates. But, of course, these are my very first impressions.
