GeForce NOW Gifts Cloud Gamers Some Great Upgrades With A Small Caveat

NVIDIA is rolling out some big changes (more of them) to its GeForce NOW cloud gaming service that affect the 'Priority' tier, which is now renamed to 'Performance' to reflect the upgrades, including a bump from 1080p to support for 1440p gaming. Best of all, there's no change in price—NVIDIA is retaining the same $9.99 per month subscription fee for the Performance (formerly Priority) tier.

In addition to now supporting 1440p game streams, NVIDIA is also adding support for ultrawide resolutions, which was previously only available to Ultimate tier subscribers. And on top of that, Performance subscribers now have the ability to save their in-game graphics settings across streaming sessions, and that includes for NVIDIA RTX features in supported games.

"All current Priority members are automatically upgraded to Performance and can take advantage of the upgraded streaming experience today," NVIDIA says.

While NVIDIA is not changing the price, there is a caveat, as well as a caveat to the caveat (cue up the 'Yo dawg' meme). Beginning in January 2025, GeForce NOW will come with a 100-hour monthly playtime cap. This applies to both Performance and Ultimate tier subscribers.

According to NVIDIA, the new playtime cap won't be an issue for the vast majority of gamers. The company states, "This ample limit comfortably accommodates 94% of members, who typically enjoy the service well within this timeframe. Members can check out how much time they’ve spent in the cloud through their account portal."

Here's what that looks like...

For those who come in under the cap, GeForce NOW will roll unused time—up to 15 hours—into the next month's cap. That means a playtime cap of up to 115 hours, depending on how often you use the service. Either way, NVIDIA will provide subscribers the option of buying more time, priced at $2.99 for 15 additional hours on the Performance tier and $5.99 for same amount on the Ultimate tier.

The caveat to the caveat is that all active paid subscribers can lock in unlimited playtime throughout the entirety of 2025, by keeping their account active.

"To thank the GFN community for joining the cloud gaming revolution, GeForce NOW is offering active paid members as of Dec. 31, 2024, the ability to continue with unlimited playtime for a full year until January 2026. New members can lock in this feature by signing up for GeForce NOW before Dec. 31, 2024. As long as a member’s account remains uninterrupted and in good standing, they’ll continue to receive unlimited playtime for all of 2025," NVIDIA explains.

Granted, it's still a bummer that a monthly playtime cap will go into effect (now or later), especially given that NVIDIA is making money hand over fist these days. But at least it won't (or shouldn't) affect gamers who don't spend more than a few hours each day playing games. Also, a lot can change in a year—it will be interesting to see if NVIDIA backtracks on the cap, loosens it up a bit, or adds even more features to GeForce NOW.

If you want to give GeForce NOW a whirl before committing to a full month, you can score a Day Pass (24 hours) for 25% off right now.