The future of Gaming – *8 month recap* 

GeForce Now is a tier-based subscription involving two tiers; ‘Basic’ and ‘Priority’. Basic is a free version but limits your ability to play games with 1 hour session times before you are forced to queue into the game servers.  

The way you can access your games is by creating a GeForce NOW account. You can link your Steam, Ubisoft Connect, Epic Games, GOG and Origin. Once added, it will display the total number of imported games from each launcher. Note: Right now, there is a limited number of games available from their supported list, and you are dependent on the internet connection to play games.  

So unless you have a strong connection, it will limit your ability to enjoy this system, if you are downloading files, or watching YouTube or Netflix. Also, stay away from anything Wi-Fi intensive in the background. 

Promising future and where it could take PC Gaming 

This helps the availability of PC gaming by decreasing the starting point and reducing the required specs. This will also keep the cost down at the right locations under $1000 (minimum specifications displayed below)  

The possibilities that this creates for the future is in allowing the average person to access higher powered equipment. This allows the larger community to have access to what used to be available to the more-well off in our community. It also promotes a better use of free time as well as allows people to spend less on their computer. The average cost of a system that could run these games is around $2500-$5000 per computer. 

The obvious issue you run into with this service is, it works using YOUR GAMES libraries. Problem being, if you are new to the platform and don’t have a large library, you will have little to nothing to play on the platform. Luckily, they do support some free titles such as Apex Legends, Brawlhalla, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and more, so there’s something for everyone. 

Performance: pretty or fast? 

GeForce Now is currently limited on its choices for display. You can either run 720p with a 15mbps connection or 1080 with a 25mbps connection. Depending on your area, this could be a problem for frame rates. It’s limited to either 30fps or 60fps, where Vsync is also an option. With a max bitrate sitting at 75mbps, this could be changed in the future.  

NVIDIA recommends either a hardwired ethernet connection or a 5GHz wireless router, starting around $100-$200. The more expensive being around $500 or more.  

All in all, this is a promising system that could see the increase of accessibly for a new generation of online gamers to find themselves and their community.