In letter: Nvidia’s efforts to push GeForce Now have brought the service to the Chrome browser, an app almost as ubiquitous as the internet itself. The Windows and macOS versions of the browser are supported in the latest Beta GeForce Now version 2.0.27, which also includes support for M1 Macs from the dedicated macOS client.
Nvidia’s inclusion of Apple M1 support is practical, and the rejection of Apple, which continues to deny game streaming services on the App Store, is just a bonus. But the addition of Chrome support is (or at least appears to be) almost entirely an act of resentment against Google, which operates their own game streaming service, Stadia, through Chrome.
That’s because the only platforms that support Chrome but couldn’t run any form of GeForce Now before are Windows on Arm and Linux. The latter doesn’t even have official support, but “could work” according to Nvidia’s release notes.
But it’s nice that you can play on your GeForce Now account without having to download the client, if you’re playing on a friend’s device, for example. Or on your work or school computer if you are not supposed to download games.
The GeForce Now availability map is shown above. Green regions are supported and purple regions will be supported soon. White dots are servers, and being closer and having more per person is better – meaning the three people living in the Australian desert will have the best gaming experience of anyone in the world. Seriously, Nvidia, looking at a map of Australian cities isn’t that hard.
Nvidia does state that the best performance is achieved through the dedicated client on Windows or macOS, and will even ask you to download it when you visit the website if you’re on either platform. But aside from the loss of a few options in the settings and a small increase in latency in some games, users have not reported any noticeable differences.
Nvidia is also adding new features to the service. A big one is the ability to create desktop shortcuts for certain games. Click on a game to open its details options and select a shortcut to get the prompt. Also in the details options is a new shareable link that will take your friends to the GeForce Now page for the game you are playing.
Game streaming services such as GeForce Now and Stadia are very relevant when new hardware is difficult to purchase and new games are difficult to run. It’s good to see Nvidia improving theirs.