Nvidia has a limited-time offer for six months of "Priority" access to GeForce Now, its cloud gaming service, for only $29.99, $20 off its usual price of $49.99.
GeForce Now gives members access to a virtual gaming PC capable of cloud-streaming games from your existing Steam, Ubisoft, and Epic libraries onto pretty much any computer or mobile device, so long as that device is connected to a relatively speedy internet connection.
The monthly plan for Priority is still $9.99, so the bi-yearly plan is by far the better choice. There seems to be no way of buying multiple memberships and stacking them on top of each other to take advantage of the discounted price. However, if you do find a way, shoot me a message.
The most significant difference between Priority and free memberships comes down to the quality and length of your cloud gaming sessions. Priority allows streaming up to 1080p at 60 fps and RTX features like ray-tracing. In contrast, free members are limited to one-hour game sessions, which means you'll have to re-login every 60 minutes, and you'll have to wait in a virtual line if servers are packed.
GeForce Now is great if you want to play PC games but don't quite have the hardware in your personal gaming rig to get the performance you want. I'm a big fan of playing Fortnite on a browser at my desk during lunch. Don't tell my boss. More importantly, this gives you a fast pass to premium servers for six hours of uninterrupted gameplay.
Best gaming PC: The top pre-built machines from the pros
Best gaming laptop: Perfect notebooks for mobile gaming
The RTX 3080 tier of the Geforce Now remains unchanged, with the yearly plan going for $99 and $19.99 for the monthly plan. This membership gives you access to a virtual RTX 3080 powered-gaming PC. If you have a fancy TV or high-end gaming monitor, this tier lets you stream games up to 4K at 120fps and, as it turns out, works pretty well if you're using an Nvidia Shield.
A fairly decent internet connection of at least 15Mbps for 720p at 60 fps and 25Mbps for 1080p at 60 fps is required for optimal gameplay. Nvidia also recommends that your latency in competitive games be less than 40 milliseconds from one of its data centers. You can use this handy guide to see if your home or work network is up to the task.
Unlike Xbox Pass, which gives you access to a fairly large library of games, GeForce Now requires you to own the games you want to stream on various platforms. The GeForce Now app is also available on Samsung's 2022 lineup of QLED Smart TVs, which seems like the perfect TV for console-less gaming.
