Nvidia adds 100-hour monthly playtime cap on GeForce Now; $10 tier gains 1440p and ultrawide support

[midian182]

A hot potato: Nvidia is making changes to its popular GeForce Now game streaming service, and it's good news and bad news. The welcome change is that those on the $9.99-per-month tier will be able to stream at 1440p and ultrawide resolutions. Unfortunately, Nvidia is introducing a 100-hour monthly playtime cap for paid memberships.

GeForce Now, which lets users stream games they already own on Nvidia GPUs, has two tiers: the $9.99 Priority tier, now renamed as the Performance tier, which offers RTX 3060-comparable GPUs, and the $19.99 per month Ultimate tier that is similar to playing games on an RTX 4080.

Starting this January, Nvidia says it is introducing a 100-hour per month cap on gaming time. Team Green says this will allow the service to continue providing "unparalleled quality and speed – as well as short to no queue times – for all paid members, without increasing membership fees."

Related Reading: Testing GeForce Now Ultimate RTX 4080 Tier

The free tier won't have the cap, but then users are limited to one-hour sessions, less powerful hardware, and often have to endure long waits. Remaining Founders subscribers, who were promised benefits for life as long as they continue paying monthly, will not be subject to the cap.

Nvidia says that this level cap, which is equal to around three hours of gaming every day, will only impact around 6% of GeForce Now users. If you don't use your full time allocation, you can carry over up to 15 hours from one month to the next. And if you do happen to reach 100 hours in a single month, there's the option to buy packs that enable 15 hours of extra playtime. These cost $3 if you're on the Performance tier and $5.99 for those on Ultimate.

Nvidia could be introducing the cap to help pay for the improvements to the Performance tier. Previously limited to 1080p streams, members can now stream at 1440p and in ultrawide resolutions. The company adds that they can also now save their in-game graphics settings across streaming sessions, though that feature has long been part of the settings menu.

Those on the Ultimate tier don't get any benefits, just a playtime cap. Nvida insists this is a good thing as it keep the pricing the same for the foreseeable future.

The new cap comes into effect on January 1, 2025. However, those with a current paid membership subscription and anyone who joins before the end of the year will have unlimited monthly playtime until January 1, 2026, which seems like a smart way of getting people to sign up now.

I personally like the GeForce Now service as it allows me to play games in 4K at high framerates without spending a fortune on a flagship graphics card. Those on the Performance tier have welcomed the addition of 1440p, but anyone who does play more than 100 hours per month isn't too pleased, especially when you consider that Nvidia's revenue for the twelve months ending July 31, 2024 was $96.3 billion.

Permalink to story:

Nvidia adds 100-hour monthly playtime cap on GeForce Now; $10 tier gains 1440p and ultrawide support

 

[unoficialoficial]

If you find the current games uninteresting, you can now engage in a more abstract form of gameplay by managing subscription tiers.

Come on Nvidia, show some compassion for the youngsters - offer them a free tier with 100 free hours of gaming at 1080p resolution per month. For those who are a bit more fortunate, provide unlimited 4K gaming for just $15 per month.

 

[nnguy2]

If you find the current games uninteresting, you can now engage in a more abstract form of gameplay by managing subscription tiers.

Come on Nvidia, show some compassion for the youngsters - offer them a free tier with 100 free hours of gaming at 1080p resolution per month. For those who are a bit more fortunate, provide unlimited 4K gaming for just $15 per month.

Compassion isn't how Nvidia makes $100B in revenue

 

[airbornex]

100 hours per month feels fair for most people, but I get why some are annoyed. You pay $20 a month for the Ultimate tier, and the idea of a limit can feel restrictive, especially with Nvidia’s earnings being what they are.

At least they’re offering some carry-over hours and extra packs if you’re a superuser...

 

[yRaz]

So I came in here wanting to he mad, but $20/m for 4080 level performance and $6 for every 15 hours after that? Actually, not that bad. I can spend $20 at the pub in an hour. Getting 100 hours of entertainment for $20 isn't bad. Then getting another 15 hours for $6?

 

[toooooot]

You went to all-you-can-eat buffet, now it is not all you can eat. I am ok with 100h or whatever number it is for their mid-tier. If they want to do this, there must be a huge sign saying that the product can get worse at any moment without a price decrease.
They are showing what people are to expect from them next.
They could lower their GPU type locking gamers with something like performance of 4050 for the lowest tier. They could remove 10-20 hours from the tier every year until the service till a lot of gamers no lonegr have enough hours for their gaming habits.
I would rather have them increase the price. Hey, this does not work for us, pay more.
Instead, they "keep" the price, they keep the price but it is a lie.

 

[toooooot]

100 hours per month feels fair for most people, but I get why some are annoyed. You pay $20 a month for the Ultimate tier, and the idea of a limit can feel restrictive, especially with Nvidia’s earnings being what they are.

At least they’re offering some carry-over hours and extra packs if you’re a superuser...

Damn, I just realized it is not a just a cap on their lower tier. Now the offer feels even less attractive.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

I'm ok with whatever Nvidia wants to implement on their streaming service because I'll never use the streaming service and it won't affect me.

 

[bviktor]

An excellent way to alienate potential subscribers

 

[captaincranky]

So I came in here wanting to he mad, but $20/m for 4080 level performance and $6 for every 15 hours after that? Actually, not that bad. I can spend $20 at the pub in an hour. Getting 100 hours of entertainment for $20 isn't bad. Then getting another 15 hours for $6?

Correct me if I'm wrong here but $6.00 / 15 = .40 or "forty cents an hour".
Which would make 100 hours cost $40.00..! My Prince, you're considering this a "bargain"?

 

[yRaz]

Correct me if I'm wrong here but $6.00 / 15 = .40 or "forty cents an hour".
Which would make 100 hours cost $40.00..! My Prince, you're considering this a "bargain"?

$20 for the first hundred hours and $6 for every 15 hours after that is used up. Considering that you can't buy a pizza these days for $20 in my city. So, yes, $20 for 100 hours of entertain is a bargin.

 

[captaincranky]

$20 for the first hundred hours and $6 for every 15 hours after that is used up. Considering that you can't buy a pizza these days for $20 in my city. So, yes, $20 for 100 hours of entertain is a bargin.

Well, here in the cheap seats ("da hood"), pizza is $4.00 to $8.00 But you have to be willing to be seen walking into Walmart, and cook it yourself.

Then too, one must find one's own definition of "entertainment". I find my gaming solace in "Spider Solitaire", while basking in the glory of your wisdom and grace, to bring all the joy my aging heart muscle can withstand.

But then again, my favorite carnivore treat, cheese steak with F/O and mushrooms is pushing $15.00. I'm sure that things will be much better when Elon Musk is inaugurated as POTUS come January.

 

[yRaz]

Well, here in the cheap seats ("da hood"), pizza is $4.00 to $8.00 But you have to be willing to be seen walking into Walmart, and cook it yourself.

Then too, one must find one's own definition of "entertainment". I find my gaming solace in "Spider Solitaire", while basking in the glory of your wisdom and grace, to bring all the joy my aging heart muscle can withstand.

But then again, my favorite carnivore treat, cheese steak with F/O and mushrooms is pushing $15.00. I'm sure that things will be much better when Elon Musk is inaugurated as POTUS come January.

Walmart is pulling out of my side of PA. We have 3 left and they're all about an hour away from each other. We also don't have many grocery stores or pharmacies, they've all been robbed into bankruptcy. even Target has started closing some of its locations. If you want to eat anything other than chips and soda you have to pay for the privilege of dinning out now.

Although, on a more positive side, were ranked 3rd in the country for most bars per 100,000 people

 

[captaincranky]

Walmart is pulling out of my side of PA. We have 3 left and they're all about an hour away from each other. We also don't have many grocery stores or pharmacies, they've all been robbed into bankruptcy. even Target has started closing some of its locations.

The weirdest thing happened this morning here in the east, it rained...! (It's been about a month), I'm convinced that the column of heat coming off the city splits the air stream in two, and storms either go north and/or south.of here

I just found out I outlived yet another friend or acquaintance, my "baby mama" died four years ago.@70.

More to the point, I could get prepared food 50 feet away, but I have no idea what I'd be ordering, or even what to order. It's all African cuisine.

To the upside, Walmart is about 2 miles away, and they have the best prices on TV dinners and Dinty Moore beef stew ever, "the bachelor's best friend". We also have "Wawa" convenience stores around. They're a former dairy from, you guessed it Wawa PA. I can actually hit 2 supermarkets and a Walmart in something like 2 mile loop, with monster cheese steaks, another 1/2 mile away. Although, the last time I hit up Wawa for a meatball, was on a trip to Margate to see Bud's Clydesdales, and it was mostly bread crumbs, not meat. Margate is home to "Lucy the elephant". The sign "welcome to Lucy", is paradoxically directly under the elephant's a**hole. I took a few snaps.

My Nikkor 80-200 mm f2.8D (two touch screwdriver), has finally been repaired after 5 weeks in the shop (fingers crossed). Here's hoping I can get another 20+ tears out of it. Now the only worry is whether I'll get another 20+ years out of me, which is highly doubtful.

Let's see, now where were we? Oh yeah, online VGA. They all laughed when I bought a GTX-1660 ti. In fact, I got several pages of hostile PMs about it.

And as for all the pissing and moaning going on about Intel's 13xxx & 14xxx CPUs, Newegg has been selling the 12900 for about $270.00 for the last several months. But god bless you, y'all had to have the new ones. I keep meaning to bite the bullet and spring for one just to have it, but I've been on the "fiscal responsibility kick", and just the thought of having to deal with

 

[Sloma1986]

For a moment I've became disappointed with nVidia but after reading this article here I just realised that it was unnecessary in my case because I kept paying for "founders" tier of GF Now, so it turned out that I'm a bit less angry at myself for paying for a servixe that I use maybe once a year...