Briefly: Nvidia’s efforts to push GeForce Now have brought the service to the Chrome browser, an app that’s almost as common as the Internet itself. The Windows and macOS versions of the browser are supported in the latest beta GeForce Now version 2.0.27, which also provides support for M1 Macs from the dedicated MacOS client.
Nvidia’s inclusion of Apple M1 support is practical, and the bullying of Apple, which still allows game streaming services in the App Store, is merely a bonus. But the addition of Chrome support is (or at least seems to be) a fact despite Google running its own game streaming service, Stadia, through Chrome.
This is because the only platforms that support Chrome, but previously could not run some form of GeForce Now, are Windows on Arm and Linux. The latter does not even have official support, but according to Nvidia’s release notes ‘it can work’.
But it’s nice that you can play on your GeForce Now account without having to download the client, for example, if you’re playing on a friend’s device. Or on your work or school computer if you do not want to download games.
GeForce Now’s availability card is shown above. Green regions are supported, and purple regions will be supported soon. White spots are servers, and it’s better to be closer and have more per person – which means the three people living in the Australian desert will have the best gaming experience of all on the planet. Seriously, Nvidia, it’s not that hard to look at a map of Australian cities.
Nvidia does state that the best performance is achieved by the dedicated client on Windows or macOS, and will even ask you to download it when you visit the site if you are on one of the platforms. But apart from the loss of some options in the settings, and a small increase in delay in some games, users did not report any noticeable differences.
Nvidia is also adding new features to the service. A big one is the ability to create computer shortcuts for specific games. Click on a game to open the details and select a shortcut to get the request. The details also include a new shareable link that will take your friends to the GeForce Now page for the game you are playing.
Game streaming services like GeForce Now and Stadia are very relevant when new hardware is hard to buy, and new games are hard to use. It’s good to see Nvidia improving this.