Nvidia squeezes GeForce Now users for more cash with 100-hour monthly playtime limit — Nvidia will charge $5.99 for 15 extra hours for the Ultimate tier and $2.99 for the Performance tier
Nvidia says only 6% of its player base will be affected by the 100-hour monthly allowance.
Nvidia is clamping down on playtime for players of its GeForce Now cloud gaming service. The trillion-dollar company announced it will introduce a "100-hour monthly playtime allowance" at the start of next year. Hardcore gamers who might hit the 100-hour limit can extend their playtime with a small fee.
This change is purportedly designed to help keep GeForce Now's "exceptional" quality and speed consistent and provide short queue times specifically for Performance and Ultimate players. Nvidia says the 100-hour limit is generous, with only 6% of its entire GeForce Now user base actually being impacted by the change. 100 hours of playtime gives players three hours per day of game time if they play every day for an entire month.
For anyone who manages to hit the 100-hour monthly limit, Nvidia is charging its customers $2.99 for an additional 15 hours of playtime for users on its Performance tier and $5.99 for the same playtime extension for Ultimate tier players for anyone who wants to bypass Nvidia's 100-hour limit. Nvidia will provide the ability to monitor your playtime in GeForce Now so users can monitor how close they are (or aren't) to the 100-hour limit.
Nvidia has also announced some upgrades to its current GeForce Now membership plans. GeForce Now's previous "Priority" plan has been replaced with the "Performance" mid-tier plan, which sees an upgrade to 1440p. This enables gamers to play games at up to 1440p native resolutions; previously, gamers were limited to 1080p on the Priority plan. In-game graphics settings can also be saved during streaming sessions. The Ultimate and free plans see no change.
As a thank you to its concurrent player base, Nvidia is offering active paid members, as of December 31 of this year, the ability to continue with unlimited playtime for all of 2025. This effectively delays the 100-hour monthly limit by a full year for users with an active plan as of December 31, 2024, or earlier.
Nvidia is also offering a temporary 25% discount on its Day Passes. The Performance Day Pass will drop to $2.99, and the Ultimate Day Pass will drop to $5.99. Day passes offer 24 hours of access to either the Ultimate or Performance plans before you have to pay again, switch to a monthly subscription, or revert back to the free plan.
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Aaron Klotz is a contributing writer for Tom’s Hardware, covering news related to computer hardware such as CPUs, and graphics cards.
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It works out to an average of just a little over 3 hours per day (based on 30 days per month). I know some that game 10+ per day if they have nothing else to do. Jensen must need want another car or plane, or both.why_wolf said:I have to imagine that 6% use way more than 100 hours. -
pocketdrummer Just a friendly reminder that every SaaS will always result in regular price inflation for the exact same services.Reply -
Aiodensghost You know, over the time I'd game via GeForce Now I'd eventually be able to buy a Steam Deck... something that has very few strings attached, and functions just as good as a desktop/laptop rig. I was originally going to wait until I got a full 2 and a half hours out of a single charge to get one, but this crock has me thinking about pulling that trigger sooner than I initially wanted.Reply