"Insert coin to continue"
this post was submitted on 27 Dec 2025
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Someone help me understand the concept of this service here: is it that you buy a game on whatever store, then pay another service (GeForce Now) to effectively rent hardware that’s better than yours to play it on, but it has to stream back to your device in a cloud service format?
Yes, you're effectively renting a powerful computer.
Previously, you could just use it without limits, and the math worked out for everyone. It's something like 3-6 years of service to cover the cost of a decent-to-great computer.
Now, if you're a hardcore gamer and go over 100 hours a month, that value changes, and the break-even point is sooner. If you play for 40 hours a week, that time is effectively halved.
At the current rates, it continues to seem like a really good value, so long as you aren't bothered by the slight input lag or the video compression.
But if more people use the service for more time, they're going to have to charge more money. Either higher base rates, or lower limits. And it's eventually going to show that it doesn't really make sense for anyone except as a temporary measure, and then the service will disappear because it didn't work well enough.
This is where I'm confused.
You have to be both a hardcore gamer AND wealthy enough to buy the brand new AAA game that needs expensive hardware, and yet be poor enough to not be able to afford a gaming rig that can handle it? But also have the funds to pay a service?
Like, imagine buying a wagyu beef but only owning a microwave? So you rent a kitchen?
The upside of this is that your games aren't locked to the streaming platform. When you get yourself a PC you stop paying for Nvidia's service, log into your Steam account and enjoy your games locally.
GFN is not for "hardcore gamers". Well... at least not until recently (more on that).
It is more for the people who might mostly play older titles but want to experience the newest hotness. That 1070 has zero problems with all the indie games but you have heard that Clair Obscur is REAL good and you want high fidelity toesy woesies. Or maybe you mostly just play Madden and Call of Duty every year and don't want to spend the money on a new computer (... assuming you play either on PC).
And it is nVidia so their linux support is a shitshow, but I was personally VERY tempted to try GFN when Dragon's Dogma 2 was shitting the bed endlessly at launch. Ended up buying a new graphics card instead which... has somehow turned out to be a good decision?
But if you are the kind of person who upgrades every 5-8 years and cares about high fidelity gaming? You don't need this.
.... Assuming you upgraded in 2024. Because now EVERYTHING costs an arm and a leg and just gets worse and worse by the week.
Like, imagine buying a wagyu beef but only owning a microwave? So you rent a kitchen?
Change that to a nice 2 inch bone-in ribeye. Actually don't, since that is also best cooked on a stove. But let's move past that.
It is not that you don't have a kitchen. It is that you don't have a grill or a range hood (ooh, that actually works). So you rent a grill for the weekend.
And... that isn't too dissimilar from people who get gym memberships so they can go climbing (because they don't live in an area where they can easily do it outdoors) or because they don't want to buy expensive gear.
And... honestly? A couple years back I had to help emergency cater a friend's wedding (it was a whole thing). I... would totally pay money to get access to that kitchen a few times a year. Like... holy shit was it amazing.
It doesn't have to be a "brand new AAA game". It can be a somewhat-recent AAA game on sale. Some of the discounts in the first year are ridiculous.
And I've been surprised at how many games in the past few years were more than my 3070 could handle on high settings, let alone "ultra".
Excellent, thanks!
Lag and compression make it a no go for the majority of pc enthusiasts. Imo this is most viable as a console alternative for kids.
I tried it when it came out and I had access to my steam library on their digital computer. But not every steam game, only the ones that nvidia had permission to run on GeForce now
I assume you can access more than just your steam library but yes, you’re paying to stream a game you already own from a top tier nvidia computer over the internet
As others have said, yeah, essentially. It was very useful when my graphics card died in the middle of the stupid crypto boom that had graphics cards costing waaaay too much, let me play my games without having a computer that could ordinarily run them. Also the fact that it's usable on mobile was very nice. Shame about what it's become, but alas, everything goes to shit as long as it's for profit.
GeForce Now gives me the ick.
I want to own my own hardware.
My next card will likely be a Radeon card.
Probably used.
I think I have some kind of tier of this service because I own Shield Pro but I have never used it. I'm happy with my PS5 Pro and games running locally instead of being streamed to me.
Ah yes, 1st of Jan 2026. In 4 days.....
That’s about 3 hours 15 minutes per day or 25 hours a week.
I’m sure this will eventually reach a point of actually enshittification. For the time being, it seems like they’re making the highest bandwidth users - who have a part time job’s amount of time to play video games - pay more for their share.
Damn this isn't that bad. I thought I gamed heavily but I'm probably doing 10-15 hours of week at most because work, life, kids.
Intheshitvacation… some doctor thought of it.