(Nvidia)
Uh oh. Starting next year, Nvidia will restrict GeForce Now subscribers to 100 hours of playtime per month.
The company says the overwhelming majority of paid subscribers never exceed 100 hours monthly. “This ample limit comfortably accommodates 94% of members, who typically enjoy the service well within this timeframe,” Nvidia wrote in a blog post on Thursday.
The restriction will "ensure customers continue to receive low to no queue times and a high-quality experience every session," Nvidia says. The policy will take effect on Jan. 1 for the Ultimate and Priority tiers, which cost $19.99 and $9.99 per month, respectively.
(Credit: Nvidia)To make the change a little more fair, Nvidia says it’ll automatically roll over up to 15 hours of unused playtime to the next month, potentially raising the cap to 115 hours. Still, if a paid subscriber reaches the limit in a billing month, they’ll need to pay extra and “purchase additional playtime hours,” the company says in a FAQ about the new policy.
Otherwise, they can only continue playing by accessing GeForce Now as a free user, which downgrades the game streaming experience, forces you to wait longer, and caps the play length at one hour per session.
The company is also rewarding existing subscribers by allowing "unlimited playtime until their first billing cycle on or after January 1, 2026, as long as your Premium membership remains uninterrupted and in good standing."
Still, some gamers are threatening to cancel their subscriptions over the restriction. "Cool, now I get to worry about budgeting my time while I'm doing the one thing that lets me relax," wrote one user on Reddit.
In some good news, Nvidia is upgrading the Priority tier for GeForce Now to support a higher display resolution while retaining the $9.99 cost. The company also decided to rename the Priority tier to a “Performance membership.”
“Performance members can stream at up to 1440p — an increase from the previous 1080p resolution — and experience games in immersive, ultrawide resolutions,” Nvidia said. “All current Priority members are automatically upgraded to Performance and can take advantage of the upgraded streaming experience today.”
In early 2023, Nvidia reported that GeForce Now had over 25 million users based in more than 100 countries.