Nvidia’s GeForce Now is becoming an important test for the future of cloud gaming
Game developers are pulling titles left and right from the cloud gaming service
www.theverge.com
The publishers have given vague statements, leading many to surmise that it may be due to the lack of a revenue split or the fact that big game publishers would rather charge customers a second time for a separate license to play a game on a cloud gaming service, regardless of how it's structured. Stadia, for instance, charges customers for games even if you own them on Steam already, and a lot of big publishers have signed up under those terms. But again, these are assumptions. The developers haven't spoken at length about the disputes, and Nvidia has politely obliged when it comes to removing games because its service appears to depend on the goodwill of participating developers.
Later on, van Lierop wrote, "Today's world is getting complex for devs, with lots of platform changes and shifts to streaming, so devs have to be able to plan a strategy for how their games will appear and where, as a means of running a business. All the platforms acknowledge this." He said Hinterland would reconsider putting The Long Dark on GeForce Now in the future, but right now, he doesn't like the current situation.
This argument confused many onlookers, especially those who currently use or are considering using GeForce Now. Why would a game developer get to dictate the hardware its games are played on, and why would Nvidia need permission to make games a customer has already purchased on Steam available on a virtual machine? These are not dumb questions. In fact, the answers are critical to understanding the ongoing controversy with GeForce Now and how important it will be the future of the cloud gaming sector. The thread Lierop inadvertently kicked off by stating his plain thoughts on the matter is actually quite insightful, and I recommend everyone read it to get an even better understanding of what's going on here.
Effectively, there are two sides to the controversy — one in favor of the game maker and one in favor of the customer — and both have merits. For game developers and publishers, a digital game is not the same as a physical good you can do what you want with, including resell it. A digital game is a license to use a virtual good in a way stipulated by licensing agreements, both from the maker of the game and from the marketplace that sells it, in this case Steam. (This, of course, is ignoring the fact that physical games also have these license agreements so you can't, say, burn one to a Blu-ray and sell it on eBay. You can, however, sell a physical game back to GameStop and that is legal.)
A license to play a game does not mean another company can redistribute it, even if you personally bought the license. That's what happening with GeForce Now, and it's important to understand that. Nvidia isn't just renting you a virtual machine. It's renting you a virtual machine and then redistributing a video game sold by Steam under agreements that do not include Nvidia, at least not yet. It is not just a hardware rental service, and pretending it is one is disingenuous.
More at the link, but hopefully this clears some of the gray area surrounding GeForce Now and game streaming services in general.
My take: Nvidia should temporarily take down GeForce Now and restructure the program to have an on-boarding process for developers and publishers. Simply hit a checkbox for your game to be GeForce Now-enabled or not.
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