Key Takeaways
- GeForce Now will cap playtime at 100 hours a month, with additional hours available for purchase.
- The platform offers games from other digital stores, and even offers Xbox Game Pass integration.
- Some gamers are unhappy with the new limit due to future paywall concerns.
GeForce Now has announced that it will begin capping playtime to 100 hours a month, with gamers who need more required to pay extra. Nvidia’s cloud gaming platform officially launched in February 2020 after over four years in beta, and so far, GeForce Now has proven to be one of the more successful and long-lived services of its type.
One unique element of GeForce Now is that it is not an online store, but rather a service that gives gamers cloud streaming access to titles they already own via other digital storefronts like GOG, Epic Games Store, and Steam. Some Xbox Game Pass releases are also available to stream on Nvidia’s platform, with the catalog of titles constantly growing. In July, Xbox.com enabled integration with GeForce Now, allowing gamers to seamlessly choose between Nvidia’s service or Xbox Cloud Gaming to launch their supported Xbox PC titles.
Related
The 12 Best Open-World Games To Stream Through GeForce Now
GeForce now has an impressive selection of games for players to stream, including many of the very best open-world games of the past few decades.
Nvidia’s cloud gaming service is available in three tiers. There’s an ad-supported free tier for GeForce Now; Priority, which has been renamed to Performance, for gaming at up to 1440p resolution with RTX; and Ultimate with all the bells and whistles like 4K HDR, 240 FPS, and RTX 4080 graphics. However, beginning in 2025, new subscribers will have a 100-hour monthly playtime cap, with the option to purchase additional hours in 15-hour increments at $2.99 for Performance and $5.99 for Ultimate. Up to 15 hours of unused playtime will also automatically roll over to the following month.
Nvidia maintains that, while a 100-hour cap might sound limiting, it will in fact provide sufficient playtime for 94% of GeForce Now members. The platform tracks the amount of time each user spends playing in the cloud, and this data can be viewed via the user account portal. Furthermore, current members and anybody who subscribes to GeForce Now before December 31, 2024, will be exempt from the 100-hour cap throughout 2025.
When Does GeForce Now’s 100-Hour Playtime Limit Begin?
- Current subscribers: January 1, 2026
- New subscribers before December 31, 2024: January 1, 2026
- New subscribers after December 31, 2024: January 1, 2025
Cost to Purchase Additional Playtime Hours
- Performance tier: $2.99 for 15 hours
- Ultimate tier: $5.99 for 15 hours
Founders members will continue to enjoy unlimited playtime hours for life, as long as they do not allow their membership to lapse. This special group of GeForce Now members can also upgrade to Ultimate, where they will have the playtime cap, and revert to their Founders tier at will in order to regain unlimited play.
Understandably, the response to this change to GeForce Now is not being well received by all members, even though many acknowledge that they won’t necessarily be affected by the 100-hour playtime limit. Some have expressed worries that this marks the beginning of a continuing trend to paywall access or features, such as incrementally charging for raytracing or 4K. Others have pointed out that this could serve as a precedent for other streaming services like Netflix to similarly implement a use cap. For those who were perhaps considering signing up for Nvidia’s cloud gaming service and are now hesitant, GeForce Now offers a day pass that lets fence-sitters try it out before deciding.