GeForce NOW, Nvidia's new game streaming service, has the potential to change the way that gamers access their games. However, the library of what's available to subscribers has diminished yet again, with Bethesda removing all but one of its titles from the service.
GeForce NOW is a game streaming service that allows players to enjoy the titles in their game libraries without the need to meet graphical capability requirements. Instead of the user's local computer handling processing everything the game requires, it's instead managed by GeForce NOW's systems and simply streamed to the user, preventing them from needing to meet technical requirements or long download periods to play.
Bethesda initially offered a large catalog of games on the service, including Skyrim, Fallout 3, New Vegas, and MMO Fallout 76, in addition to Doom, Dishonored 1 and 2, The Evil Within, and the Wolfenstein series. However, Bethesda suddenly chose to remove the vast majority of these titles from the service, only leaving behind Wolfenstein: Youngblood. At this time, neither Bethesda nor Nvidia have shared any information as to why these games were removed. It's also unclear why Youngblood didn't get the axe, but it may have something to do with Youngblood being one of the RTX-enabled games on the service, which is likely a big draw for gamers who don't own the most recent video cards.
Bethesda's removal follows just days after Activision Blizzard did the same thing, removing its catalog of games from the service entirely. At the time, Nvidia noted that game publishers were at liberty to pull their games from the service during the trial period, though it also claimed that game removals would be few, and yet they have continued.
Nvidia GeForce, like Google Stadia, clearly has some hurdles to clear before it can become the success that it wants to be. Google Stadia hasn't seen a large number of games exit it ranks, but many have been dissatisfied with the service thus far, especially after the debacle of Borderlands 3 being an older version on Stadia.
It's not all bad news for GeForce NOW, though. It was recently announced that GeForce NOW will receive Cyberpunk 2077 on its launch day, which should allow gamers to enjoy its impressive visuals without having to race to upgrade their systems.
Source: PCGamer