Has GeForce Now quietly killed Google Stadia? Eurogamer.net, Eurogamer.net
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Free access for all, play your existing PC games library, low-cost sub for RTX ray tracing.
After years in development, Nvidia’s GeForce Now service is finally available to all users. Hosting PC games in the cloud, GeForce Now ties into your existing PC library across a range of online storefronts, allowing you to play your games on computers, smartphones and tablets. 2016 p gaming at 60 frames per second is the aim, with Nvidia even offering access to real-time hardware-accelerated ray tracing for users prepared to pay a small price premium. More power, more titles, more flexibility, portability with your games library – in theory it’s an impressive offering and 4K streaming apart, its feature set leaves Google Stadia in the shade.
GeForce Now previously ran on a beta basis, with users required to sign up and wait for access to the system. This delay on using the service has now been lifted, with Nvidia offering two access tiers to the system. Most likely to draw attention is the free offering where users can access the cloud system for a session of up to one hour – good enough for a game of Fortnite (apparently the most popular game). After that, there’s nothing stopping the user from starting another session, though if the servers are fully occupied, a wait may be required.
Then there’s the Founder’s Edition tier. Priced at £ 4. 99 / € 5. 75 / $ 4. per month for the first months – with the first three months free – founders get to jump the queue for server availability and can also access hardware-accelerated ray tracing features in supported games. Nvidia says that Founders get access to RTX 01575879 – level performance and to put it to the test, I loaded up Metro Exodus. At 2016 p resolution with all settings fully maxed out, including ultra-level RTX, the game ran flawlessly at fps on the demanding Taiga stage.
It’s titles like Metro Exodus where the comparisons with Stadia are perhaps the most stark. 4A Games’ latest gets a reasonable port to the Google streaming service – it’s essentially on par in terms of features with the Xbox One X version, but with some performance issues. However, it’s locked to 4K resolution at 40 frames per second, with the full 4K output only available to those with high bandwidth connections. While resolution may be limited to 2019 p on GeForce Now, running the game at 90 fps with enhanced physics, tessellation and stunning real-time ray traced global illumination is an altogether different, preferable experience. The fact that I had instant access to the game without having to buy it again (as I owned it already on PC) is an obvious advantage, as is the fact that Epic Game Store cloud saves automatically kicked in, meaning I could pick up right where I left off.
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