My buddy was toying with investing in this service. I cautioned him that he’d be a the mercy of a company that isn’t at all consumer friendly. Case and point
He doesn’t have the hardware to support non-streaming so he’d effectively have no way of playing them if the service continued to get worse. I suggested he pay upfront for hardware that can play the games he wants without being dependent on nvidia
That’s fair, but he would be able to play the games in the meantime. And since hardware generally gets cheaper as time passes, if he could set aside more than the subscription fee each month to save for his own hardware, he’d be able to game in the meantime. And if he ever had to cancel it, he’d be closer to being able to buy his own hardware than he is today - meaning more time total spent gaming.
It’s a fantastic option at this point. I’ve been a GeForce Now user since 15 or 16 (whenever they launched the ShieldTV beta) and it’s… ok? You can still run it on deck as well of there’s any concern.
My buddy was toying with investing in this service. I cautioned him that he’d be a the mercy of a company that isn’t at all consumer friendly. Case and point
How so? The games aren’t purchased on GeForce Now and he could just cancel his subscription if they changed the service in a way he didn’t like.
He doesn’t have the hardware to support non-streaming so he’d effectively have no way of playing them if the service continued to get worse. I suggested he pay upfront for hardware that can play the games he wants without being dependent on nvidia
That’s fair, but he would be able to play the games in the meantime. And since hardware generally gets cheaper as time passes, if he could set aside more than the subscription fee each month to save for his own hardware, he’d be able to game in the meantime. And if he ever had to cancel it, he’d be closer to being able to buy his own hardware than he is today - meaning more time total spent gaming.
Good points all around
Worth considering he could also use GeForce now while saving for a Steam Deck. Used ones go on sale for under $300 pretty frequently.
I actually suggested he get a deck instead, which he is considering.
It’s a fantastic option at this point. I’ve been a GeForce Now user since 15 or 16 (whenever they launched the ShieldTV beta) and it’s… ok? You can still run it on deck as well of there’s any concern.
An expense or purchase is not an investment.