Nvidia GeForce Now The Best Cloud Gaming Platform Of 2020

GeForce now is on iOS. Luna is on iOS. Stadiums and xCloud are coming to iOS in the not too distant future. Ideally this would have been through a standalone app and not the Safari browser, but hey, when Apple says you have to submit each individual game on your cloud gaming platform for review to get it on the App Store, you improvise. These companies probably have worked on iOS web app support long before Epic Games against the Apple saga begin. But it’s not as important as cloud gaming which delivers on one of its main promises – playing games on any device. Here we are. The cloud has made gaming more accessible to those who may not have the money or the desire to shell out hundreds or thousands of dollars on a gaming PC or laptop.

Yet each of these platforms does cloud gaming in a different way. Each is designed for a different type of user, but for now none are as user-friendly as GeForce Now. You can not only use it on PC, Mac, Android, iOS, Chromebook and Shield (a media streaming device like Chromecast), but its use is free and compatible with more 650 games which you may already own on Steam, Epic, GOG, or Ubisoft.

GeForce Now offers a “bring your own games” model, which connects to accounts you have on other digital storefronts so you can play the same games in the cloud instead of your local machine. It is the only dedicated cloud gaming service that does not require a subscription or that you purchase games from its service. Of course, if you want to pay $ 5 per month, you can play ray tracing games, get extended gaming sessions, and get priority access to join the server queue, but if you ever decide to ‘Stop paying for all those extra perks, you won’t lose your games. They are always where you bought them.

Call me old school, but growing up long before downloadable copies of games existed has made me a strong advocate for consumers who own the games they buy. Sure, you pay more money up front, but if you play a game often enough and long enough, that $ 50 or $ 60 game more than pay for himself in a few months. And you can always come back to it without restarting a subscription. GeForce Now combines the best of this old-school model with games cloud.

The only catch is, if there is a game you want to play that GeForce Now is not compatible with, you have to either find it on another service or play it locally on your PC (if you can), or wait for it to come to GeForce Now. But every cloud gaming platform has its limitations on the library front, and other than that GeForce Now is ready to use. Simple. Simple. In a world dominated by subscription services for pretty much everything, it’s so nice not to have to worry about video games.

Stadia, Luna, and xCloud are all great, but I see them as GeForce Now backups. Their libraries are much smaller at the moment and they all use subscription models that revoke access to your games once you stop paying. In the case of Luna ($ 6 / month) and xCloud ($ 15 / month with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate), your ability to access the cloud and play games on different devices wears off when your subscription is in place. Stadia offers individual games for purchase, but any games you get “for free” with its $ 10 per month Pro membership disappear after your membership ends.

Each service gets a little more complicated from there. Luna, for example, positioned itself very early on to offer channels like Prime Video. That $ 6 per month will get you around 50 games already included with the Luna “base”, but if you want to add to the Ubisoft game channel, it’s $ 15 more per month. You don’t need the basic service to get the Ubisoft channel, but if you want both, that monthly price becomes $ 21 per month. Some people might like this model, but if there is a game that I want, I just want this Game.

One of the most annoying aspects of the subscription cloud model for games, movies, and TV shows is the feeling that I have to look for the game I want to play or the movie I want to watch. I understand: the studios are going to make deals with specific streaming services in order to attract more people to their service. Damn, I’ve bought a PS4 in the past just so I could play an exclusive title. When Fable 4 is finally out, I’m going to buy an Xbox Series X just to play it if it’s not on PC. But these days I often find myself on Amazon first to rent or buy something specific so that I don’t waste time watching Hulu, Netflix, Shudder, CBS All Access, whatever. If I can get a physical copy of a movie that’s even better. When friends I left Netflix, bought the whole collection on Blu-ray because I didn’t want to subscribe to another streaming service.

I feel the same with Stadia and xCloud. I’ve already invested in so many individual copies of games on Steam, Epic, and Ubisoft that it doesn’t make sense for me to buy another copy on Stadia or get a Ubisoft subscription just to play it in the cloud when GeForce Now is there. (Not to mention, I’ve claimed almost every free game that Epic offers over the past year. No subscription required.) And of course, you can buy standalone copies of all xCloud-enabled games, but if you want to play in the cloud, which is limited to Android devices at the moment, you need to get the subscription.

Cloud gaming is for everyone, but game subscriptions? Not really. If you spend all your free time playing games or want to try out a few games inexpensively before committing to a standalone copy, OK, paying a subscription for just a month or two is a logical choice, of course. especially since game demos aren’t really a thing anymore. No cloud gaming service stands a chance against a poor internet or mobile connection, but in a world scalpers buy all new graphics cards and processors and consoles on release day, cloud gaming is the best alternative for playing the games you want if you don’t have the system you want – and when it comes to cost and convenience, GeForce Now is the best model.