NVIDIA GeForce Now gets visual upgrade, but 100-hour limit has many gamers threatening to quit

NVIDIA has made some big changes to GeForce Now and the middle plan most gamers will be using - and while there are upgrades here, a choice to limit playing time has caused a storm of controversy.

Team Green has changed the Priority subscription - which is the middle ground between the premium Ultimate subscription, and the Free tier - to rename it as the Performance plan to reflect that it now supports up to 1440p resolution. Previously, these members were streaming at 1080p, and also ultra-wide is now supported, too.

On top of this, those using the new Performance membership will be able to save in-game graphics settings in the cloud, so those options will be applied permanently to avoid messing about and having to change them all the time.

Okay, that's all good - and there's no price hike here either - but now we come to the playing session limits that are being imposed. NVIDIA is applying a time limit of 100 hours of streaming per month, so if you want more gaming time, you'll have to pay extra (or continue playing, but on the 'Free' plan).

This also applies to the Ultimate subscription, as well as Performance, we should note - though the Ultimate and Free plans are otherwise unaffected. The change to limit playing time doesn't come in quite yet, and won't be in place until 2025 begins.

NVIDIA defends the decision by asserting that the 100-hour allowance will be good for 94% of members, presumably based on current average playtimes on GeForce Now. So, only the most hardcore 1 in 20 streamers will end up needing to purchase more gaming time, going by these figures.

How much is extra time charged at? NVIDIA tells us that additional time will cost $2.99 for 15 extra hours for those subscribing to the Performance plan, but folks running an Ultimate membership will pay $5.99 for those 15 hours.

A serious sting in the tail

That's quite a sting on the Ultimate plan, then. There's a bit more positive news in that like mobile data allowances in some cases, a portion of unused time will roll over to the following month - up to 15 hours. So, if you play 85 hours one month, you'll get 115 hours of streaming for the next month.

It seems that the move to 1440p on the central plan for GeForce Now - which will obviously considerably increase the bandwidth used when streaming for the gaming population - is wrapped up in the imposition of the time limit.

NVIDIA explains that the time restrictions will help it deliver "exceptional quality and speed" with GeForce Now, and also shorter queue times to boot.

The broad reaction from gamers has been, shall we say, one of displeasure - and disputing Team Green's claim that 100 hours is a plentiful allowance for most. That works out at three hours per day, or just over, and while that sounds okay on the face of it, if you rack up some major sessions at weekends - it's probably going to run lean quicker than you think.

There are already huge threads on Reddit complaining and talking about leaving the service, and anticipating that while there's no price hike now, this will inevitably be coming down the line - so you'll be paying even more, for a more limited service. Albeit with shorter queues indeed - if the amount of gamers seemingly threatening to leave GeForce Now carry through with their anger. How much of this is just empty venting, though? Time will tell, but NVIDIA appears to be playing with fire to some extent here.

It's worth noting that some subscribers are reportedly receiving messages from NVIDIA to the effect that they are locked in with unlimited playtime until 2026.