The cloud game it is one of the most disruptive technologies in the world of video games. Although still in development, it is constantly evolving and allows many gamers to enjoy great video games regardless of the hardware they own. Nvidia is well positioned with GeForce Now, its cloud gaming service, which will now deliver a quality jump with better equipment for a new subscription that will arrive at the end of the year thanks to the supercomputer GeForce Now Superpod.
A week ago we had the opportunity to attend an online event where Nvidia presented us with the future of GeForce Now. We must remember that the service, which already has more than 12 million subscribers, is linked to the different game stores that we find on PC (Steam, Epic Games Store, GOG and Ubisoft Connect for now) and allows us to play in the cloud to those titles that we have purchased on said platforms and that are also supported by GeForce Now.
GeForce Now Superpod, the supercomputer for the cloud
Nvidia is happy with the departure of GeForce Now and, in fact, is going to reinforce it with GeForce Now Superpod, a gaming supercomputer specially built as a platform to service gaming in the cloud. It is true, of course, that in order to enjoy this performance we will have to be subscribed to the new level of service, which will cost 99.99 euros every 6 months, although we will go into this later in the article.
Superpod will deliver unprecedented power to users, who can expect the equivalent of owning a Nvidia RTX 3080 for them. The GPU of these computers is not exactly the same as what consumers receive, but the power is similar, although its great performance will not only be a matter of the graphics card.
Each player will be able to enjoy, thanks to Superpod, a next-gen performance. In addition to the RTX 3080, each user will have 35 teraflops of power, a CPU (from AMD, by the way) with 8 cores and 16 threads, 28 GB of DDR4-3200 RAM and a PCI-GEN4 SSD. With all this equipment, GeForce Now promises a performance through the resolution cloud of up to 1440p and up to 120 FPS, very important data to take into account.
To help make that streaming possible, Nvidia is also going to change the way data is sent from servers to users with “Adaptive Sync Technology”. In this way, the company expects reduce latency of the game in the cloud. With the normal subscription, which gives access to an RTX 2080, a latency of 81 ms is expected and with the new premium option powered by Superpod, Nvidia estimates about 56 ms. These data have been extracted by doing tests with Destiny 2. For comparison, according to Nvidia, Xbox Cloud Gaming currently works at 175 ms.
New subscription for Nvidia GeForce Now
As we said, this jump in quality of service is fantastic, but to enjoy it we will need to scratch our pockets even more. The new high-performance subscription will cost 99.99 euros every 6 months and it will give access to Superpod and the exclusive servers with RTX 3080. We detail how the different subscriptions are from now on.
Therefore, there will be three levels subscription to GeForce Now. The free it will continue as before: a basic PC, standard access and only one hour of continuous play. The subscription “Priority” from 49.99 euros every 6 months now becomes second on the scale: it allows you to play with a 2080 and use the benefits of RTX graphics, such as ray tracing, gives priority access to normal servers, offers 6 hours of game without stop and hit 60 FPS and up to 1080p resolution.
With the new subscription “Highest Performance” things get serious: the power of a Superpod and an RTX 3080, exclusive access to 3080 servers, 8 hours of continuous gameplay, up to 120 FPS and up to 1440p, and 4K HDR on Shield TV. Beyond this, the interesting thing is that this subscription will allow, for the first time in the service, modify graphic settings of games to improve quality and performance. In the rest of the levels, Nvidia continues to assign the quality of the video games by default to optimize the transmission.
It is interesting to note that the “Highest Performance” level will have limited places and the Bookings they open today, October 21, to get early access one week before the final release in december. Therefore, if you are very interested in this new option, do not let it pass too long. Finally, something to keep in mind is that Nvidia will not launch at the moment monthly subscriptions to be able to test the service, but it is a matter that will depend on the viability of implementing something to