PC Game Pass will soon be available on Nvidia’s GeForce Now streaming service, meaning you’ll be able to play almost any game from the Microsoft subscription using the company’s RTX GPU. In effect, this will let you play PC Game Pass games using almost any PC, Mac, or Chromebook device.
The news comes from Nvidia’s Vision Gaming event in Europe, where head of game partnerships Sarah Bond says in the coming months PC Game Pass subscribers will be able to access the library through GeForce Now on low-power PCs, Macs, and Chromebooks. That means even ‘old’ gaming laptops with weak integrated graphics or low-end laptops like the LapBook 12 can play games from the subscription service.
The big question, of course, is how precisely this will “allow” users to access PC Game Pass games. Currently, GeForce Now already allows streaming of games from Steam libraries, with over 1500 games supported. However, the Xbox website notes that users will only be able to stream ‘select’ PC games from the library.
While we wait to hear more precisely on the extent of the service, one option could simply be to allow GeForce Now subscribers to pay/subscribe to PC Game Pass’ $9.99/month tier and let them play any game they choose. Whether that means they can play games with RTX OFF or lower resolutions and frame rates is unclear, but again, we’ll find out more as the service approaches.
In terms of the fee structures, the three tiers are pretty straightforward. You get a free tier that gives you hour-long sessions with lower-fidelity streaming, a $10 tier that offers up to 1080p resolution and 60 FPS for optimal performance, and a $20 tier that offers even higher resolutions and faster frames per second (along with RTX ON if you jump to the $20 tier).
While we wait to see how GeForce Now and PC Game Pass will play together, there are lots of reasons to give GeForce Now a shot even if you have a powerful rig. For one thing, it’s genuinely one of the most effective and affordable ways to upgrade your gaming experience, especially if you end up going for the $20 plan.
On the other hand, if you don’t think you need the best possible resolution, you can try out GeForce Now’s even cheaper free tier, which gives you a solid day’s worth of VR and non-VR gaming.