• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Nvidia’s free-tier GeForce Now will soon show ads while you’re waiting to play. There will be “up to two minutes” of video ads



Nvidia's completely free, no-strings attached trial of its cloud gaming service GeForce Now is about to be very slightly less of a deal — on Wednesday February 28th, Nvidia tells The Verge, users will start seeing ads.
They're only for the free tier — not Priority or Ultimate — and even then, it sounds like they won't interrupt your gameplay. "Free users will start to see up to two minutes of ads while waiting in queue to start a gaming session," writes Nvidia spokesperson Stephanie Ngo.
 

Three

Member
oh-boy-here-we-go-again.gif
 

Kadve

Member
Never tounched a Nvidia product as i think they are one of the biggest scumbags in the tech industry (alongside Creative). My opinion hasnt changed with this.
 

T-Cake

Member
This really is not a bad idea at all. It takes an hour or more to even get going on the free tier. The ads would just replace a boring static "please wait" screen.
 

Three

Member
Oh no, you will need to watch ads while queuing to use a free service? Truly the end times are upon us.
It was free without ads before. So was youtube. Netflix basic didn't have ads. They added an ads tier and got rid of the "basic without ads" tier. Amazon Prime Video had no ads and that was a paid service, it now has ads. This isn't the end times but it's not exactly good news either.
 
Last edited:

Jesb

Member
There’s a shit ton of ads on consoles user interface and your paying much more for those.
 

Zathalus

Member
It was free without ads before. So was youtube. Netflix basic didn't have ads. They added an ads tier and got rid of the "basic without ads" tier. Amazon Prime Video had no ads and that was a paid service, it now has ads. This isn't the end times but it's not exactly good news either.
Yeah but its free though. I'd call it a shit service if the paid for service had ads while you play, but people using the free tier give Nvidia nothing. I'm not upset about ads on Youtube either, but I would be if Premium had ads as well.
 

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
Yeah but its free though. I'd call it a shit service if the paid for service had ads while you play, but people using the free tier give Nvidia nothing. I'm not upset about ads on Youtube either, but I would be if Premium had ads as well.
One step at a time.

One. step. at. a. time.

Also, Netflix's plan with ads is not free. It costs $7 per month.
 

Zathalus

Member
One step at a time.

One. step. at. a. time.

Also, Netflix's plan with ads is not free. It costs $7 per month.
I'll call it out when it happens. For now the service is fine. If it gets too obtrusive or expensive users would just migrate to one of the many alternatives out there.
 

Spyxos

Gold Member
Free tier is already not usable. Last time i tried i had to wait for 2 Hours. And i even forgot at this point that i started Geforce now.
 

Zathalus

Member
Oh the ads on youtube make it almost unwatchable, dno where i'd be without an adblocker.
Thats why I went Premium, covers all my devices and my entire family plus it comes with Youtube music. I agree it is terrible without a good adblocker or Premium though.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Oh the ads on youtube make it almost unwatchable, dno where i'd be without an adblocker.

Is that still working for you tho? Over the last couple of days, I've noticed the video streaming just tanks when I have an adblocker on.
 

Senua

Member
Is that still working for you tho? Over the last couple of days, I've noticed the video streaming just tanks when I have an adblocker on.
I use ublock origin on PC and adfree youtube app on my LG TV with webOS. Both work a treat!

I used smart tube on my firestick before i upgraded my TV
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
I use ublock origin on PC and adfree youtube app on my LG TV with webOS. Both work a treat!

I used smart tube on my firestick before i upgraded my TV

Yep, I use Ublock on my PC too, but over the last few days the streaming just fucking stops after a few seconds if I have it enabled. If I disable it, it works as usual.
 

Hohenheim

Member
It's the FREE TIER. Of course this was bound to happen. Been listening to the free tier of spotify the last 15 years? Shit like this is everywhere.
Buy a subscription or buy your hardware and games, or deal with shit like this. But if you want free, shut up about dealing with this shit.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
uBlock Origin is working fine. Might have to purge caches if you're facing issues

There's no traditional purge cache button in the interface anymore but googling led me to a support page where someone had a URL to purge cache, that seems to have worked (for now).

Thanks.
 

Tajaz2426

Psychology PhD from Wikipedia University
It's the FREE TIER. Of course this was bound to happen. Been listening to the free tier of spotify the last 15 years? Shit like this is everywhere.
Buy a subscription or buy your hardware and games, or deal with shit like this. But if you want free, shut up about dealing with this shit.
No, it’s moving into paid tiers also. Netflix has paid tier with ads, commercials on Amazon unless you pay more on top of prime. It will infiltrate every tier and more than just gaming.

One of my first psychology classes we discussed in detail how they condition you with ads. It’s neurologically the same as being forced to watch them. We do not use normal thought process with ads our brains use their emotions making it easier to condition you to open your wallet.

It will only continue to grow and spread as they make money to the point you will watch ads to start your car, play any game, and while in game also watching ads.

That is why just about any company now hires psychologists and sociologists to run studies, focus groups, etc to learn pattern behavior and how to get every cent they can out of you.

Then the morons who believe it is just because it is free will complain it’s in all their paid content and it will be too late, because each one of them were the reason.

Edit: So do not get mad at the folks who see it happening because they have common sense.
 
Last edited:
It's the FREE TIER. Of course this was bound to happen. Been listening to the free tier of spotify the last 15 years? Shit like this is everywhere.
Buy a subscription or buy your hardware and games, or deal with shit like this. But if you want free, shut up about dealing with this shit.
agreed, and the moment they think about doing it to the Ultimate tier, I'm out. But otherwise, fantastic service.
 

Tajaz2426

Psychology PhD from Wikipedia University
agreed, and the moment they think about doing it to the Ultimate tier, I'm out. But otherwise, fantastic service.
You may be out, but a high percent will have been conditioned and it will be normalized to them to watch ads even though they pay a monthly payment and you are out a service, while the company keeps those paying and makes ad revenue on top of that. They will be perfectly fine losing you till you come back because all streaming services will have it. Then you have to make a choice if you want to stream and if you do, you will pay and watch ads.

They make money no matter what you do.
 

Hohenheim

Member
No, it’s moving into paid tiers also. Netflix has paid tier with ads, commercials on Amazon unless you pay more on top of prime. It will infiltrate every tier and more than just gaming.

One of my first psychology classes we discussed in detail how they condition you with ads. It’s neurologically the same as being forced to watch them. We do not use normal thought process with ads our brains use their emotions making it easier to condition you to open your wallet.

It will only continue to grow and spread as they make money to the point you will watch ads to start your car, play any game, and while in game also watching ads.

That is why just about any company now hires psychologists and sociologists to run studies, focus groups, etc to learn pattern behavior and how to get every cent they can out of you.

Then the morons who believe it is just because it is free will complain it’s in all their paid content and it will be too late, because each one of them were the reason.

Edit: So do not get mad at the folks who see it happening because they have common sense.
Fuckin hell.. that's some dystopian shit right there. If this is the way things go, i'll be back to strickly ala-carte quicker than they can shout "best deal in gaming"
 

Kdad

Member
Never tounched a Nvidia product as i think they are one of the biggest scumbags in the tech industry (alongside Creative). My opinion hasnt changed with this.
My only Nvidia product that I own, that I'm aware of, is my STONKS. They've made some good ones.
 

Dorfdad

Gold Member
I have zero problems with that you’re asking to use a free service they need to be paid somehow stop acting like it’s the end of the world because you’re not getting free shit 24 seven it’s meant to be used as a demo. Now, if they added to paying subscriptions, we can freak out.
 

King Dazzar

Member
Once you sign up for Elon’s Mars trip, Air won’t be free! 😉
I'm surprised there isnt a pavement tax based on how heavy people are who walk up and down the paths. Every year in addition to car tax, there could be a weighing system and tax bands for the use of pathways depending on how heavy you are. OR, for "free" you watch 10 minutes of government chosen adverts before going for a walk. Paths don't pay for themselves!
 

StereoVsn

Member
I'm surprised there isnt a pavement tax based on how heavy people are who walk up and down the paths. Every year in addition to car tax, there could be a weighing system and tax bands for the use of pathways depending on how heavy you are. OR, for "free" you watch 10 minutes of government chosen adverts before going for a walk. Paths don't pay for themselves!
I mean if we are going full on Dark Mirror route, we would all have implants that allow what we can or can’t see without ads.

Would you like to enjoy your time in a Park? That would be £4.99 or watch a five minute ad!
 
Ads on youtube annoy the shit out of me, but I understand why they need them. yt barely made money in their early days and is afaik still no actual cash cow. GeforceNow is kinda the same server infrastructure, but also requiring these expensive GPUs and CPU power as well, so naturally it requires even more some income in one way or another. I wonder how long until free Spotify increases their amount of ads, since most the ads are for themselves and only a few actually paying adverts are being played. But music streaming with a good enough but low bit rate costs them probably far far less than video or games do, so their licensing is the bigger thing and afaik it's pennies for that, not enough to make them artists rich.
 

CobraAB

Member
Never tounched a Nvidia product as i think they are one of the biggest scumbags in the tech industry (alongside Creative). My opinion hasnt changed with this.
Please expand on this.

I guess nVidia is required to give everyone free shit.
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom