NVIDIA GeForce NOW

GeForce Now tests shorter launch times by preloading games, directly linking accounts

Ben Schoon | Apr 29 2021 - 10:55 am PT

Nvidia’s GeForce Now service is a great way to play games you already own from the cloud, but one of its downsides is the process of launching a game. To improve that, GeForce Now can now directly link to your Steam and Epic Games accounts and preload games too.

Rolling out today with GeForce Now v2.0.29, Nvidia is adding support for two new features that will improve launch times by as much as 50%. Running in tandem, this includes first directly linking your Steam and Epic Games accounts to GeForce Now. Through the app’s settings, you can link either merchant’s account, which skips the step of logging into your account when you launch a game.

With direct account linking, GeForce Now can also cut down on launch times by preloading the game you’re about to play. This change is only in testing for the time being, but when active will launch sessions up to one minute faster. This works best for Founders and Priority members but can also work for free accounts at times too. Both of these features are working first for Fortnite.

One feature we’re currently testing with our Founders and Priority members is preloading, which loads parts of your game before you arrive so your launch times will be faster. Members testing this feature should see sessions launch up to a minute faster from the moment they click play in the GeForce NOW app. Free members are not guaranteed preloaded sessions and may see slightly longer startup times.
To enable the benefits of preloading, we’re also testing a new account linking feature which lets you play games without having to login into your game store account. Both the preloading and account linking features are currently enabled for Fortnite’s PC build on GeForce NOW. We anticipate an expansion of these features to more GeForce NOW games in the future.