Every Bethesda game has been removed from Nvidia's streaming service GeForce Now, except for Wolfenstein: Youngblood, which remains available for subscribers. Bethesda isn't the first game publisher to jump ship from the service either, as earlier this month, Activision Blizzard removed all of their games from GeForce Now as well. Subscribers are rightly worried about what these sudden departures mean and what the future will hold for Nvidia's once-promising streaming service.
The world of gaming is in the midst of a major shift, not only in the transition from physical to digital games but in the way users store games as well. Microsoft, Sony, and Google have all released game-streaming services in the past few years. Although some have met with more success than others, one thing remains abundantly clear: the technology is inhibited by ISP data caps and gargantuan bandwidth requirements. Additionally, the most popular game-streaming services, Project xCloud, PlayStation Now, and Google Stadia, are made by software developers or game manufacturers, not optimization designers like those at Nvidia. That isn't to say that there aren't tremendously talented people working on those other services, because there are. It's likely that some of the developers at Microsoft, Sony and Google have even had first-hand experience optimizing Nvidia game drivers. Still, it seems like if there were one company that would have the best grip on maximizing the synergy of hardware, software, and network synergy for a game-streaming service, it would be Nvidia.
Nvidia has announced that all Bethesda games other than Wolfenstein: Youngblood will be leaving GeForce Now, according to an official Nvidia blog post. Fans and GeForce Now users were quick to respond in voicing near-unanimous frustration with the state of the service.
Many members of the GeForce Now community believe that Bethesda, like Activision Blizzard before them, has left the service for either one of two reasons. The first is that they may be moving their catalogs to a new streaming service, while the second is that they may feel like the partnership isn't financially viable. As of now, it's impossible to know, neither Activision Blizzard nor Bethesda have publicly said anything on the matter. Although it is worth noting that Nvidia said that the Activision Blizzard games were removed due to a simple "misunderstanding" between the two parties, as GeForce Now planned to shift out of the "Founders Program."
GeForce Now has confused gamers from the get-go with a rather strange business model, and now it seems like the service is in the middle of an identity crisis after losing yet another major game publisher. Nvidia is going to have to steer GeForce Now back into a clear direction if they hope to compete with gaming juggernauts like Microsoft and Sony. Although Nvidia is widely regarded as a pioneer of both hardware and software game technology, their expertise won't matter much if there aren't any compatible games for GeForce Now. That being said, Nvidia has begun to address this, evident by the fact that they confirmed Cyberpunk 2077 is coming to GeForce Now on launch day. For now, GeForce Now subscribers can get their Bethesda fix with Wolfenstein: Youngblood.
Source: Nvidia
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