Though Nvidia’s GeForce Now has always hada caveat or two in place, it’s hard to argue against its value proposition. This comprehensive game streaming service has always been rather janky on the Steam Deck, however, which made it less-than-ideal on the Valve handheld. That’s all changing, though.
Amidst a dizzying array of announcements made at CES 2025, Nvidia has also publisheda blog on its upcoming GeForce Now applicationfor the Steam Deck. Up until now, the impromptu “solution” has been to simply install Google Chrome onto the Deck and run GeForce Now that way. This, however, was not only janky but also rather limiting as users couldn’t leverage GeForce Now’s HDR featuresorgo for frame-rates higher than 60. The new native Steam Deck app should solve all of these problems and then some.
Get GeForce Now with full functionality on the Steam Deck… soon
Slated to release sometime later this year, the native Steam Deck GeForce Now application is going to give users the full array of boons available on regular Windows PCs. This means HDR10/SDR10 color grading, 1440P/120 FPS and 4K/60 FPS streaming setups, and the usual assortment of features you get on a high-tier RTX graphics card. The specifics will, naturally, depend on the particular subscription tier you might purchase for GeForce Now.
GeForce Now is particularly important for the Steam Deck because it’s a fast and reliable streaming service that can massively expand your handheld’s longevityandimprove its performance. This is highly reliant on your Internet speed and latency, of course, but if you’ve got that sorted out, GeForce Now lets you play cutting-edge AAAs fully maxed-out on the Deck. That’s not something the device can achieve natively, so it’s definitely worth considering for some users.
Notably, you’re able to use GeForce Now without spending a dime. It’s just that free access locks you into basic, lower-end host PCs with long queue times and a maximum hour-long session time. There are two premium alternatives, Performance and Ultimate, which massively expand the service’s feature set to up to 22 euros per month. That might sound like a steep recurring purchase, but it may well be the best way to play on the Steam Deck if you’ve got excellent home Internet.
Nvidia has already clarified that bothDOOM: The Dark AgesandAvowedwill be available to play on GeForce Now on day one, and the Steam Deck is unlikely to be able to run them natively. Something worth considering, perhaps, if you’re in the market for such an app.
One might argue that relying on GeForce Now reduces the Steam Deck to a far simpler use case thatcheaper devices could handle just as well, but I see it as an expansion of its feature-set, instead. Just note thatmonthly playtime caps are a thing, so you’re going to want to havesomegames installed on your Steam Deck regardless of how good the value proposition might be, for your specific use case.
