NVIDIA’s GeForce NOW cloud gaming service is something promising for gamers who probably don’t have the hardware but want to experience the latest and greatest games with the best possible experience using GeForce NOW (stream the game online and play it on any device you want).
The service was limited to a few users (in the form of the waitlist) to access. However, recently, they announced that GeForce NOW is open to all. But, it really isn’t.
Interestingly, it’s not available for all the regions across the globe. And, worse- GeForce NOW does not support Linux.
GeForce NOW is Not ‘Open For All’
The whole point of making a subscription-based cloud service to play games is to eliminate platform dependence.
Just like you would normally visit a website using a web browser – you should be able to stream a game on every platform. That’s the concept, right?
Well, that’s definitely not rocket science – but NVIDIA still missed supporting Linux (and iOS)?
Is it because no one uses Linux?
I would strongly disagree with this – even if it’s the reason for some to not support Linux. If that was the case, I wouldn’t be writing for It’s FOSS while using Linux as my primary desktop OS.
Not just that – why do you think a Twitter user mentioned the lack of support for Linux if it wasn’t a thing?
Yes, maybe the userbase isn’t large enough but while considering this as a cloud-based service – it doesn’t make sense to not support Linux.
Technically, if no one games on Linux, Valve wouldn’t have noticed Linux as a platform to improve Steam Play to help more users play Windows-only games on Linux.
I don’t want to claim anything that’s not true – but the desktop Linux scene is evolving faster than ever for gaming (even if the stats are low when compared to Windows and Mac).
Cloud gaming isn’t supposed to work like this
As I mentioned above, it isn’t tough to find Linux gamers using Steam Play. It’s just that you’ll find the overall “market share” of gamers on Linux to be less than its counterparts.
Even though that’s a fact – cloud gaming isn’t supposed to depend on a specific platform. And, considering that the GeForce NOW is essentially a browser-based streaming service to play games, it shouldn’t be tough for a big shot like NVIDIA to support Linux.
Come on, team green – you want us to believe that supporting Linux is technically tough? Or, you just want to say that it’s not worth supporting the Linux platform?
Wrapping Up
No matter how excited I was for the GeForce NOW service to launch – it was very disappointing to see that it does not support Linux at all.
If cloud gaming services like GeForce NOW start supporting Linux in the near future – you probably won’t need a reason to use Windows (*coughs*).
What do you think about it? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
