Nvidia’s GeForce Now has been around for about 10 years. Since then, the platform has undergone many improvements and has spread globally over the years. Finally, it’s now heading to India. For those who don’t know, cloud gaming services allow you to stream games to a device of your choice. It can be a basic smartphone, a smart TV, a tablet, a basic work laptop, or even a Mac. All you need to run the service is an application (now also available for Linux) and a controller. In fact, the GeForce Now app even offers a controller overlay (for touchscreen devices) if you don’t have one. While it sounds like a good idea, it took Nvidia a while to reach India. I was lucky enough to try out the service in a semi-controlled environment and here are the results.
Tiers and estimated pricing
People familiar with the matter said Nvidia’s GeForce Now cloud gaming service will compete with Microsoft’s recently launched Xbox cloud gaming service. Currently, Microsoft is offering a basic plan in India priced at Rs. For $499 per month, you can play 50 games on supported devices (handhelds, consoles, smartphones, tablets, and PCs), as well as basic features like streaming select games you’ve officially purchased from the store. Then there is the premium level priced at Rs. 699 includes over 200 games, the basics, and access to new Xbox releases for 12 months (post-launch). The ultimate level gives you over 400 games and new games on day one.
RTX 5080 games will join GeForce Now this year
Photo credit: technology shout
Nvidia GeForce Now feels less restricted by comparison. Globally, there is a free tier that offers 1 hour of ad-supported gaming sessions. The streaming is limited to 1080p/60 fps, and the game basically presents RTX 3050-level image quality. Next up is the $9.99 per month Performance Plan, where subscribers can experience 6-hour sessions at 1440p streaming and enjoy RTX 3060-level quality. There’s also ray tracing, HDR and 5.1 surround sound. Finally, there’s the ultimate tier, which I experienced at the GeForce Now demo area in Mumbai. It’s priced at $19.99 per month and offers 8-hour gaming sessions with RTX 4080-class graphics at 4K/240 fps or RTX 5080-class graphics at 5K/120 fps. The top-tier also gets 7.1 surround sound, DLSS 3-frame generation, Nvidia Reflex cloud technology, and Cloud G-Sync. In addition to the free tier, subscribers also have access to ready-to-play and install-and-play games, including a library of approximately 4,000 games.
Nvidia hasn’t provided any details about India pricing as the service is yet to launch, but we expect the service to be competitive or on par with Microsoft’s Xbox cloud gaming levels.
Game experience
Unfortunately, the demo area already had everything set up, so we didn’t get to see the setup process, which can be a bit complicated considering you can connect to the Steam library and install it on demand. Nvidia’s GeForce Now demo area is designed to showcase the fact that you don’t need powerful underlying hardware to play games via cloud gaming services. During the briefing, we were told that a 50Mbps connection should be enough for 4K streaming.
Hollow Knight: Silk Song on iPhone 13
Image source: Nvidia
The gaming experience is impressive. First, I tried Playground’s Forza Horizon 5, which ran very well on the rather dated OnePlus 10T. For ease of use, it comes with an Xbox controller. I played a few games and didn’t notice any skipped or dropped frames. In fact, I have to keep reminding myself that I’m not playing the game on my phone, but rather via a cloud gaming service. An iPhone 13 with a demo of Hollow Knight: Silk Song was also provided, and as expected, it also ran flawlessly.
Hogwarts Legacy on Apple iPad Pro
Photo credit: technology shout
The demo of Hogwarts: Legacy on the Apple iPad Pro delivered smooth 60 fps gameplay with ping times of approximately 2-4 milliseconds. Playing Cyberpunk 2077 on a base Dell Latitude 7420 is a bit overkill, as the service renders the game at 110 fps with a 3ms ping time, which is impressive quality. I also used the Steam Deck to play Resident Evil: Biohazard, and as expected, the game ran without any issues.
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marines 2 Demo Setup
Image source: Nvidia
The highlight of the demo area was the Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 demo, which featured two gaming PCs side by side. One runs the game natively on an RTX 5080-powered gaming PC, while the other runs the game through the GeForce Now service. Without performance metrics, it’s difficult to tell the difference in quality and frame rates.
No, it’s not out yet!
Nvidia did not confirm any details about the specific launch date of its cloud gaming service in India. But previous versions did hint at a Q1 2026 release, and Nvidia’s John Gillooly (senior technical marketing manager) did confirm that they are on track to meet that timeline.
John Gillooly, Nvidia, Senior Technical Marketing Manager, Asia Pacific South Region
Image source: Nvidia
Given that I did try Nvidia’s GeForce Now service in a semi-controlled environment, I can’t claim that the game streaming service will work perfectly on any home broadband or established fiber network from a reputable ISP. Nvidia also confirmed that it has no current plans to partner with any ISPs, and that the way its service is set up does not require any special collaboration with local vendors. Regardless, we were told that the games in the demo area were streamed from Mumbai (India) servers, which were not located in the hotel where we were. Therefore, I can say that we did experience the power of Nvidia’s regional servers, as opposed to servers placed locally nearby.
Who is it for?
All of which begs the question: Who are such cloud gaming services for? Considering the free tier available worldwide, we can think of Nvidia’s GeForce Now service as a gateway drug for those who have been afraid to start gaming. It reduces the need for individuals to own, invest, and continually spend to upgrade PC hardware, which as we are currently seeing is becoming increasingly more expensive due to the memory crisis. The service even makes sense for those who own handheld gaming consoles like a Steam Deck. While you can play Deck Verified games smoothly on medium or low graphics settings, leveraging the computing power of an RTX 4080 or 5080 will definitely allow you to try out AAA games with optimal graphics settings from the comfort of your couch. Of course, you can plug the service into a smart TV and watch the same titles in 4K or 5K on a big-screen display.
While the elephant in the room remains ISP limitations, the demo proves that Nvidia is ready to deliver. It gives us a clear idea of the possibilities. And boys! Am I impressed!