NVIDIA's GeForce NOW announced a native Linux app at CES earlier this year, following similar plans in 2025 when it revealed a Steam Deck app at the same show. Now, it's expanding to more traditional desktop distributions, starting with the Debian-based Ubuntu (24.04 and later).
We already saw NVIDIA update its cloud-based gaming rigs to RTX 5080 GPUs last year, supporting up to 5K rendering at 120 FPS or 1080p at 360 FPS with low-latency streaming. At least this time, it's about something more exciting than supplementing the lower-end graphics capabilities of smart TVs and handhelds.
If you've never tried GeForce NOW, it's the same as how Xbox Cloud Gaming lets you rent a remote console to stream Microsoft's games, except you're borrowing a high-end gaming PC from an NVIDIA server that's closest to you. That, and you get access to multiple digital libraries in one combined view, including Steam and PC Game Pass.
Testing GeForce NOW for myself
It's viable to use GeForce NOW just for free-to-play games like Fortnite, and that's part of what makes this Linux build so interesting: it's an answer to popular titles that are lacking native ports. That, and I could even connect my Battle.net account to stream World of Warcraft on practically any device at this point if I desperately need to hand in some daily quests.
GeForce NOW's overall responsiveness is getting eerily good. It's actually living up to the low-latency hyperbole.
I'm particularly happy to say that GeForce NOW's overall responsiveness is getting eerily good. It's actually living up to the low-latency hyperbole I've heard from its advertising over the years, and faster games are now totally playable. Before, I'd mostly relied on cloud gaming for turn-based RPGs and other slow-paced titles, but this is seriously changing my habits.
I did test it on another distro besides Ubuntu (and SteamOS), but Bazzite isn't there yet. GeForce NOW loads and logs in, but it's unstable, and an error forces the app to close after a minute. Not a huge deal for me, since the majority of my cloud gaming is on my much-loved Steam Deck, but I'll keep trying.
In particular, it's the mouse and keyboard latency that I want to test after these GeForce NOW upgrades, and Linux might as well be the testing ground. I'm in no danger of hitting NVIDIA's 100-hour streaming limit, so I'm happy to boot up the same game (or any other) over and over again to see how it compares to running PC games natively in Windows.
For now, if you're running Ubuntu and you have an active GeForce NOW account, you could give it a shot with the free tier, which offers 1-hour play sessions as a kind of trial experience. On other distros, your experience will vary, since they won't be officially supported. Then again, most enthusiast-grade Linux users won't care about that and see it as more of a challenge than a roadblock — let me know in the comments if you find success.
Do you ever use NVIDIA GeForce NOW to stream PC games over the cloud? Let me know in the comments if the poll doesn't quite fit your answer, or if you know something interesting about it that I don't!
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