Xbox Announces New Integration with GeForce NOW
Microsoft has launched a new integration with GeForce NOW that allows users to play games through NVIDIA’s streaming service directly from the Xbox website. However, not all Xbox users in GeForce NOW-supported countries currently have access to the feature, so the feature itself is either region-restricted or still in the process of rolling out globally.
Xbox Makes GeForce NOW Easier to Access
This development appears to be a continuation of Microsoft’s partnership with NVIDIA’s streaming service. The collaboration was first announced in February 2023, when the company committed to bringing Xbox PC games to GeForce NOW. The move was part of the company’s efforts to complete its then-pending acquisition of Activision Blizzard, which faced backlash from international regulators over antitrust concerns, some of which related to the deal’s long-term impact on the nascent game streaming market. Partnering with direct competitors to Xbox Cloud Gaming, such as GeForce NOW, was a way for Microsoft to reassure regulators that it would not use Activision Blizzard’s catalog of content to gain an unfair advantage in the expanding streaming space.
As a result of this partnership, GeForce NOW subscribers have been able to play some of the Xbox PC games since August 2023, with the pool of supported games expanding regularly. Microsoft has made it a little easier to take advantage of this integration, adding NVIDIA’s cloud solution to the list of streaming web apps available online. This will allow users to launch games supported through GeForce NOW directly from Xbox.com by clicking the big green “Play with the Cloud” button and selecting NVIDIA’s streaming service from the pop-up window.
Microsoft announced the new integration on July 17 at noon ET. Game Rant’s tests with a VPN show that the feature is still not live in all 77 countries where GeForce NOW is currently available. However, it is available in the United States and the United Kingdom as of July 18. The streaming service currently supports streaming of 252 Xbox PC games, including Gears 5, Starfield, Age of Empires 3: Definitive Edition, Amnesia: The Bunker and Hitman: World of Assassination. A full list of compatible Xbox games can be found on NVIDIA’s website.
