Nvidia’s GeForce Now cloud flatscreen gaming service will support the web browsers of Quest, Pico, and Apple Vision Pro headsets later this month.
GeForce Now lets you play PC games you already own on Steam, Epic Games Store, Ubisoft Store, Microsoft Store, EA’s store, or GOG on a range of devices including laptops, tablets, smartphones, and supported TVs and streaming devices.
Free | Performance ($10/month) | Ultimate ($20/month) | |
Ad-Free | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
Queue Times | “Longest” | “Short” | “Shortest” |
Quality & Frame Rate | 1080p SDR 60FPS | 1440p SDR 60FPS | 4K HDR 240FPS |
DLSS Frame Generation | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
Nvidia Reflex | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
Cloud G-Sync | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
The service is offered in three tiers: Free, Performance, and Ultimate. Free is ad-supported and limited to 1080p, with the “longest” queue times when the service is busy. The $10/month Performance tier lacks ads, offers “short” queue times, and streams at 1440p with RTX features on, while the $20/month Ultimate tier gives the “shortest” queues and streams at up to 4K 240FPS, with support for HDR, DLSS Frame Generation, Nvidia Reflex, and Cloud G-Sync.
Currently, trying to access GeForce Now in a standalone headset will result in a notice that the browser is unsupported, though some owners have reported success with sideloading the Android app.
On Quest, GeForce Now will join the Xbox Cloud Gaming service, which has been available since late 2023. Xbox Cloud Gaming works somewhat differently to GeForce Now, offering a catalog of Xbox games with the subscription, instead of leveraging games you already own on other services.
Neither GeForce Now nor Xbox Cloud Gaming has yet announced plans to take advantage of headsets by offering select titles in 3D. Yes, this would likely require developer support, as they may not approve of injection methods, and it would only benefit a small percentage of users. But as the resolution of headsets increases and their weight decreases, there could be increasing demand for playing traditional games with the added depth of 3D. Will any of these companies meet it?