As reported in The Verge, Xbox PC games will be streamable on Nvidia’s GeForce Now cloud gaming subscription service, as close to day-and-date as possible, as part of a new 10-year contract signed between Microsoft and Nvidia. This deal comes as Microsoft tries to persuade the world to approve its acquisition of Activision Blizzard for $69 billion, with the support of Nvidia and Nintendo.
According to Phil Eisler, Nvidia GeForce Now’s Vice President, the deal will cover not only titles like Halo and Forza Motorsport, but also games from Bethesda like Starfield and Redfall. This means that these games should be available for streaming on GeForce Now as soon as they launch later this year. Eisler added that this agreement could help solve the “chicken-and-egg” problem faced by cloud gaming, by providing enough games to attract gamers and publishers alike.
The “chicken-and-egg” problem in cloud gaming refers to the issue of attracting both gamers and publishers to the platform. Without enough games, gamers may not be interested in using cloud gaming services. Similarly, without enough gamers, publishers may not be interested in providing their games to the platform. By offering a large library of games that will be available to stream, including some of the biggest titles in the industry, the Microsoft-Nvidia deal could potentially break this cycle and provide enough momentum to attract more gamers and publishers to cloud gaming.
Recently, Nvidia has signed new deals with major publishers such as 2K and Square Enix to bring their games to GeForce Now. With this new agreement between Microsoft and Nvidia, we could see an increase in the number of AAA games available on GeForce Now from these and other publishers. Currently, GeForce Now has over 1,500 titles, a small fraction of the tens of thousands of games available on platforms like Steam.
Phil Eisler revealed that Nvidia plans to roll out just a few games per week, as the company does not yet have the capacity to do more than 10 games per week. While Nvidia plans to make the first Microsoft games available in the next few weeks from Steam and the Epic Games Store, it may take between six and twelve months to enable the Microsoft Store catalog and bring all existing games across to GeForce Now. It’s important to note that GeForce Now doesn’t sell games, so unless the games are free to play, gamers will have to purchase them from platforms like Steam, the Epic Games Store, and the Microsoft Store, or possibly Battle.net in the future if the Activision Blizzard deal goes through.
The full list of games available on Steam is available here.
When asked if Game Pass subscribers will be able to play these games on GeForce Now, Eisler did not provide a clear answer. He said, “We have no announcement about Game Pass right now,” and when pressed further about whether the contract gives Nvidia the rights to stream Game Pass games, he said, “I can’t answer that question.” While it’s unclear whether Game Pass games will be available on GeForce Now, it’s worth noting that Microsoft has previously emphasized the importance of securing exclusive games for Game Pass. However, as Eisler mentioned, the streaming rights under this agreement only apply to the PC versions of games, not the Xbox console versions, so it’s possible that only the PC version of Game Pass games will be available on GeForce Now via the Microsoft Store app.
In my opinion, it’s possible that Xbox studio games will be available to play via Game Pass on the Windows Store app. However, anything beyond that becomes a little messy due to licensing, and it’s unclear whether the games will be available on GeForce Now.
If the Activision Blizzard deal goes through, Nvidia’s agreement with Microsoft will bring not just Call of Duty, but the entire Battle.net catalog to GeForce Now, including games like Overwatch, StarCraft, Warcraft, and Diablo. This means that it’s likely that the Battle.net launcher will be available on GeForce Now, providing an additional way for gamers to access and play these popular titles in the cloud.
So if the Activision Blizzard deal is approved and the Battle.net catalog becomes available on GeForce Now, it could mean that some of the biggest games in the world will be joining the cloud gaming service. Call of Duty, one of the biggest annual franchises in gaming, would be available to stream, along with the entire Battle.net catalog of titles, including the highly popular MMORPG World of Warcraft. This could be a major draw for gamers who are interested in playing some of the most popular games in the world without having to invest in expensive hardware.
According to Phil Eisler, the agreement between Microsoft and Nvidia was only struck last week. While the companies have not yet worked out detailed implementation plans, Nvidia plans to start rolling out the first Microsoft games in the next few weeks. As per Phil Eisler, Nvidia plans to first make Microsoft games available on GeForce Now, with Bethesda games to follow.
The full list of Bethesda Games can be found here.
It’s safe to say that Nvidia’s GeForce Now will be one of the best ways to experience Xbox and Bethesda games, as well as Activision titles, in the cloud. With its powerful GeForce RTX 4080 graphics card and high-performance servers, GeForce Now is already one of the best cloud gaming platforms available. The addition of popular Xbox and Bethesda games to its library could make it an even more attractive option for gamers who are interested in playing some of the biggest titles in the industry without investing in expensive hardware. If the Activision Blizzard deal goes through, it could make GeForce Now the go-to destination for streaming some of the most popular games in the world.
This deal between Microsoft and Nvidia could be a major turning point for cloud gaming in general. The addition of Xbox and Bethesda games to the GeForce Now library, along with the possibility of Activision Blizzard games joining in the future, will make the platform an even more attractive option for gamers who are interested in streaming high-quality, popular games without expensive hardware. The fact that Nvidia’s top-tier GeForce RTX 4080 graphics card is now available on the platform means that GeForce Now is now 5 times as powerful as an Xbox Series X, which could make it a more desirable choice for gamers who value high-end performance. With more and more gamers turning to the cloud for their gaming needs, this deal could help cloud gaming be taken more seriously by the industry as a whole.
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