Most people who play games will probably have heard about a recent gaming platform that was released by Google. Yes, the (in)famous Google Stadia, one of the first Game Streaming services to hit the market for the general public. Since its release on November 19th, 2019, the service has been constantly hit with controversy after controversy. From broken promises to a lack of games and a lacking player base as a result, the service has all but become somewhat of a laughing stock in gaming communities.

With Google Stadia’s poor reception by the general public, would this mark the premature end of game streaming before it has really even taken off? Even with Microsoft working on their own streaming software, Project xCloud, and Playstation with their Playstation Now it wouldn’t be too far fetched for developers to see the failure of Google Stadia and decide to stay away from game streaming services. However, on February 4th, 2020, NVIDIA officially released its own game streaming service, NVIDIA GeForce Now.

NVIDIA Reveals GeForce Now

Known for its computer GPU’s that are widely used for gaming PC’s, the company is using those very same GPU’s to launch a competitor to Google Stadia. The first major difference of GeForce Now compared to Stadia is that GeForce is marketing itself on using your already owned games from other services. This includes your games from Steam, Epic Games, Battle.net and Uplay. Well, most of them… GeForce Now has a limited amount of games that they support currently. However, as the service is still in its first week of release, more games should be added over time as NVIDIA continues to work on the servers.

How To Get The Service Up

So how does the service work? And how does it affect the mobile gaming scene? Here’s how. If you own the game on one of the above platforms and it is available to play on GeForce Now, then the first step you need to do is download the PC/Mac client and the Android app. Next, you need to connect your NVIDIA account to GeForce Now. If you do not already have an NVIDIA account, then you can create one. Once you are logged into your account on the PC/Mac client, then you need to open the game and install it in the cloud.

The downloads will be extremely fast though. The Witcher 3 took me less than a minute to download, and smaller games were near-instantaneous. Then you need to play the game for a minute on your PC/Mac client. Once you have done this, you will be able to play the game on the Android app as long as you have an internet connection. You can download all these apps and services here.

GeForce Now’s Subscription Model

Now you can play any compatible PC game on your phone. Well, at least for a few hours. GeForce Now has some “limits” to how long you can play. These are tied to the subscription model for the service. Unlike Google Stadia, which requires you to pay a premium for games on its service, GeForce Now uses a simple subscription model. There are two tiers to this model; Free and the “Founders” edition. What’s the difference between the two modes?

With the Free service, you have a max session time of 1 hour in a game before being removed from the game. However, you can immediately choose to play the game again, but you may be put on a waiting list depending on how congested the servers are.

With the “Founder’s” subscription, you pay 5$ USD per month and get 6-hour sessions for your games. Those with the “Founder’s” subscription also have priority access if there is a wait due to congested servers. The other perk that they get is that they have access to RTX (Ray Tracing) graphics in games. There is also currently a 90 day free trial of the subscription.

How Well Does The Service Run Games?

But how well do the games run? Really well from my own personal experience. NVIDIA recommends that you have 50 Mbps internet when playing for the best experience. However, only 15 Mbps internet is required to start playing games through the service. And you can get up to 1080p60fps streaming with 30 Mbps internet.

I don’t have the best Wifi in the world and was getting about 25mbps internet speeds when playing games on my phone through GeForce Now. With this internet connection, I was able to play the Witcher 3 at 1280x720p at what a consistent 45 to 60 fps. When I switched over to mobile data usage, my internet speeds dropped once again to 20 Mbps. When playing on my mobile data usage, I found out some interesting things. GeForce Now was prioritizing frame rates for me over visual quality. If my connection dropped a bit, then the app would automatically lower my resolution in favor of keeping me at a high fps rate.

Now for the other big factor of streaming games; input lag. I felt no input lag on my end whatsoever. According to NVIDIA, their servers are able to reach most homes in North America and Europe in less than 20 milliseconds. At the same time, through their partners in Russia, South Korea, and Japan, they claim they are able to reach households in those regions in less than 10 milliseconds. This is more than fast enough for any game to feel like there is no input lag.

Touch Controls? Controllers? How Do You Play Games With The Service?

“How do you play the games?” That is one of the most common questions I get asked in regard to the service. Touch controls on any PC/Console game would be nightmarish to handle if not done properly. Most games can be played with a gamepad or a controller. NVIDIA has a full list of supported controllers on their website that you can find here.

However, if you are unable to afford one of these supported game controllers, NVIDIA has a passable solution for you. The App has its own controller overlay that you can toggle on and off in-game. This overlay has your standard controller button layout posted over the game in the background. This overlay is not the most ideal solution. The trigger buttons are awkward to use while holding a phone, however, it is passable if you are unable to get a supported controller.

My Own Experience With The Service

Before GeForce Now was released, I had never heard of the service. I had heard of Stadia, xCloud, PS Now and the rumored Amazon game streaming service. However, GeForce flew under my radar. But now that it has released, as soon as I heard about it, I downloaded the Android app, PC client app and set up my account under the Founder’s subscription. I immediately got to work testing games on the service and seeing how it held up. The service has pleasantly surprised me.

I stuck to three different games when testing out the app. These were the original 2005 Star Wars Battlefront 2, The Witcher 3 and Destiny 2. With each of these games, I used the in-app controller overlay instead of one of the supported controllers. I did this to see how the overlay would handle with different types of games. At the same time, I also tested how long my phone’s battery would hold out while using the app. I was testing everything on an Android Galaxy S10e and my phone’s battery decreased by 45% in 3 hours. The amount that the app drains from your battery will vary from this, it seems to be somewhat energy efficient though.

Star Wars Battlefront 2 (2005)

I mainly chose to test Battlefront 2 with this app as I find that the game has a very simple controller layout as a first person shooter. I wanted to see how the app’s overlay would hold up against a first person shooter. This was the first time I felt the biggest problem with the controller overlay. Due to the Bumper and Trigger buttons being at the top of the screen, trying to play first person shooters requires you to hold your phone in an awkward and uncomfortable position. As for the graphical quality of the game, it’s from 2005 so I wasn’t expecting much. Thankfully it ran at the max frames I could get at its normal resolution.

The Witcher 3

The Witcher 3 was an obvious choice for me to test. Not only is it a slower third person game, compared to both Battlefront 2 and Destiny 2, which are faster paced first person shooters, but I have an easy comparison for the Witcher 3. Not too long ago, the game was ported to the Nintendo Switch, which makes that a great comparison for the Witcher 3 on my phone.

On my phone I was reaching 45-60 FPS consistently at 720p resolution, the same resolution that the Switch port of the Witcher 3 reaches when it is in its portable state. However, unlike the switch port, which had to make sacrifices to multiple parts of the game, from sound to visual clarity, GeForce Now lets the game still look crisp and sharp. This is all despite the game being at 720p resolution. Part of this is definitely due to the size of the average phone screen. Lower resolutions tend to look sharper on smaller screens. This is most likely why the game still looks very good on my phone through GeForce Now.

Destiny 2

Destiny 2 is the second First Person shooter that I tried. However, I did not test Destiny 2 for its controls. In both Star Wars Battlefront 2 and The Witcher 3, I didn’t feel any input lag. I wanted to test the input lag on an always online game. And what better game would be the test for that than Destiny 2. This game was featured in technical reviews of Google Stadia due to a video showcasing an input lag on the game of multiple seconds.

Thankfully, I can say that I never felt that. When I was testing Destiny 2, every button I pressed felt like it immediately transferred to my character doing that action on screen. If I pressed the right trigger, my Guardian shot their gun. If I pressed the A button, then my Guardian jumped instantly. Right Bumper? Immediately saw my grenade be thrown.

So How Does GeForce Now Affect the Mobile Gaming Market?

GeForce Now, and Game Streaming as a whole, have the chance to drastically affect the gaming market. By giving users access to their whole PC library on their phones, I believe that in the future, this will become a staple in the gaming landscape. But we’re not quite there. Google Stadia’s rocky launch took a step forward and 3 steps back. Riddled with problems from the start, I believe that Google Stadia gave the average person the wrong idea of Game Streaming. However, I think that GeForce Now makes up for those backward steps and then takes a couple more forward.

With its low price point and the fact that you do not have to buy games again on the service, GeForce Now is already more consumer-friendly than Stadia. On top of that, being able to boast little to no input lag and consistently high frame rates makes GeForce Now shine even more.

However, I don’t think that GeForce Now, or Game Streaming in general, will be that widespread for a while. Games created for Mobile phones specifically will continue to dominate the market for the next few years for some very simple reasons. Simply put, GeForce Now, and other services like Project xCloud and PS Now do not have consistent Global coverage. All these streaming services are limited to regions where there are data centers that can host the services.

On top of that, these services require a pretty consistent internet connection. While GeForce Now has been more than usable staying in one location that had good internet, moving around while using it, like in a car, has proven to be more troublesome as mobile data coverage can go in and out. In the future, I see this changing. As 5G networks become more frequent and phone carries grow their coverage range.

Final Thoughts on GeForce Now

Overall, I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with GeForce Now so far. I look forward to the game streaming services growth. At the same time, I am looking forward to seeing how Microsoft’s Project xCloud advances the technology even more. However, I do not think that this service is going to change the mobile gaming landscape in the short term. Instead, I think that in the future, the Mobile phone market will be quite different as games previously only playable on consoles or PC become available on phones through Streaming services.

While Google Stadia was a bad first step in game streaming, GeForce Now has me far more hopeful for the future of these services. I am looking forward to seeing how the services grow and adapt in the future. However, if you don’t feel the same about it, let me know in the comments. I would love to hear other people’s perspective on Game Streaming and how it will affect the Mobile Phone Gaming market.

In-game Pictures used in this article are screenshots taken in the app on my own personal phone. All other photos used in this article are screenshots of the GeForce Now website.