If you own the right games, NVIDIA's GeForce Now is fantastic value for money... perhaps too fantastic. NVIDIA seems to agree, as it's bumping up the monthly fee for a premium account from $5 to $10 for new users.
Doubling the Price for NVIDIA's GeForce Now
News of the price increase broke on the NVIDIA Blogs website. NVIDIA announced a new subscription tier, called "Priority," which gives the same benefits as the paid Founders tier. However, while a Founders subscription is $5 a month, the Priority tier is double that at $10 a month.
NVIDIA adds that if you began your subscription on or before March 17, 2021, you'll keep your Founders badge and only have to pay $5 a month for the same benefits as everyone else. Founders will also become part of an exclusive club called the Founders For Life.
Despite the name, however, the new Founders tier isn't "for life." NVIDIA is quick to add that users will only keep their Founders title if they maintain "good standing." This includes paying the monthly fee every month without a break—even if you want to change payment methods or reschedule the payment for another day.
If a Founder does stop paying their monthly fee for any reason, their "for life" title is immediately revoked. They then have to pay $10 a month for the Priority role if they want the paid benefits.
A Sign of Something Bigger for GeForce Now?
In terms of cloud gaming, GeForce Now has cornered a very particular niche. This makes the service a potent force in the cloud gaming scene, and this price rise may be a sign that something bigger is brewing.
The main draw to GeForce Now is the sheer value for money. It's definitely not the most powerful because you can only play the games in your library that GeForce Now explicitly says it supports.
However, the streaming quality is excellent, and you can get started with the service for absolutely nothing. You'll only get an hour of playtime per session on the free tier, and you'll have to queue up if others are ahead of you. However, the paid tier solves both of these problems by bumping the session time to six hours and skipping all queues.
Beforehand, this paid tier was an absolute steal at $5. Now that it's doubled to $10, it's still a reasonable price if GeForce Now supports your favorite games. And with the increased price point, NVIDIA will have more money to flesh out and expand the service to make it even better than before.
The price increase is likely going hand-in-hand with NVIDIA pushing the boundaries of what GeForce Now can do. For instance, the company recently welcomed Cyberpunk 2077 onto the service in a bid to keep the GeForce Now library current and up-to-date.
GeForce Now: Is the Price Hike Too Much?
As the cloud gaming market begins to heat up, NVIDIA has had to increase the monthly subscription fee to $10 a month for new or returning users. We'll have to see if the price hike is the straw that broke the gamer's back or if the userbase will swallow the bitter pill.
Due to the budget-centric focus of GeForce Now, NVIDIA needs to keep the price below its competitors. If not, users may decide to swap to one of the many cloud gaming services that currently exist.
Image Credit: sapol / Shutterstock.com