Gears 5 is the first Xbox exclusive to come to GeForce Now as Microsoft cosies up to Nvidia
Microsoft games are coming
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Nvidiahas released its weekly roundup of games coming to itsGeForce Nowcloud streaming service, and there’s a noticeable first, withGears 5becoming the first Xbox exclusive to come to the platform.
As with pretty much all Xbox exclusives, Gears 5, which is the latest game in the Gears of War franchise, also launched on PC, and now theSteamversion can be streamed via GeForce Now to any device that supports the service – including PCs,Macs and MacBooks, smartphones and tablets.
Thanks to Nvidia’s background in graphics cards and servers, GeForce Now is one of the best cloud streaming services in a market that’s got a little bit smaller sinceGoogle gave up on its rival, Stadia. Unlike with Stadia, you don’t need to rebuy your games if you’ve already bought them on supported PC stores such as Steam and theEpic GamesStore.
GeForce Now comes in various tiers, with the maximum tier offering the power of Nvidia’s high-endRTX 4080 GPU, and comes withDLSS 3andray tracingeffects, and you can play for eight hours straight. It is pricey, however, at $19.99 / £17.99 a month, with the Ultimate tier seemingly not available in Australia.
There are also mid-tier options that are cheaper but with less powerful hardware, and there’s a free version, too, which is a good way to test out the platform.
This means you could potentially play Gears 5 on a cheapChromebookand, depending on the tier and quality of your internet connection, get better performance than if you played the game on anXbox Series Xconsole.
Microsoft and Nvidia, sitting in a cloud
While Gears 5 will be the first Xbox game on Nvidia GeForce Now, it won’t be the last, withDeathloop, Grounded andPentimentcoming on Thursday May 25, and more likely to come soon.
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According to Nvidia, support for theMicrosoftStore will also come in the future, which could open up possibilities for you to stream games fromMicrosoft’s Game Passsubscription service via GeForce Now.
WhileGooglehas dropped out of the game streaming service battle, Microsoft is a keen player itself with its Xbox Cloud Gaming service. So, it might seem odd that the company is bringing its games to a rival service.
While more choice is always welcome, this isn’t an altruistic move on Microsoft’s part. For a start, you’re still paying the company to buy the games, and while you could argue that GeForce Now could make the Xbox Series X andSeries Sobsolete, Microsoft will still getsomemoney out of you.
Microsoft also has eyes on a bigger prize. This is part of a recent10-year deal between Microsoft and Nvidiato bring Xbox games to Nvidia’s platform, signed by Microsoft in a bid to address criticisms ofits acquisition of games giant Activision.
For people worried that this could lead to Microsoft withholding popular Activision games such asCall of Dutyfrom rival consoles like thePS5and services like Nvidia GeForce Now, this deal was designed to show that Microsoft was willing to work with competitors.
Whether or not that plan will succeed is yet to be seen – whileMicrosoft’s buyout of Activision has recently been approved by the EU, it’s beenblocked by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which could still scupper the whole thing.
Still, for people signed up for Nvidia GeForce Now, you’ll be getting more games to play, even if that means fewer reasons to buy an Xbox. Nvidia is alsocurrently offering 40% off its mid-tier ‘Priority’ subscription.
Matt is TechRadar’s Managing Editor for Core Tech, looking after computing and mobile technology. Having written for a number of publications such as PC Plus, PC Format, T3 and Linux Format, there’s no aspect of technology that Matt isn’t passionate about, especially computing and PC gaming. He’s personally reviewed and used most of the laptops in our best laptops guide - and since joining TechRadar in 2014, he’s reviewed over 250 laptops and computing accessories personally.
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