Nvidia GeForce Now to get free upgrade that will leave many undecided

Nvidia GeForce Now is one of, if not the only cloud gaming service to offer a completely free tier. However, it will soon introduce something that fans of the platform might not appreciate.

That's because, like many video streaming service equivalents, the GeForce Now tier will gain adverts from 5 March.

Thankfully, ads won't be shown during gameplay, just before access has been granted. Free tier members can expect to see "up to two minutes" of commercials while waiting in a queue, the company confirmed to The Verge.

Nvidia's GeForce Now differs from the likes of Xbox Cloud Gaming and Antstream Arcade in that it provides cloud access to PC games members own across multiple digital stores. It has three tiers available, with two paid and the free basic program. Only the latter will get adverts.

The free tier allows access to Nvidia's cloud gaming platform at no cost and allows members to play on a basic gaming rig for up to an hour at a time. There is no priority access to servers, so players can face queues when logging in – and that's where the ads will come in.

Nvidia hopes that by introducing paid advertising it will better fund the free plan and therefore enable the service to reduce waiting times.

There are no plans to force commercials onto users of the other two tiers, Priority and Ultimate.

Priority costs £9.99 / $9.99 per month or £49.99 / $49.99 for a 6-month pass. It allows you to play for up to 6 hours at a time and at 1080p 60fps with ray tracing (where supported).

The Ultimate subscription is a fair bit more expensive but gives you access to the very best gaming rig, with up to 4K 120fps play and ray tracing. It is priced at £19.99 / $19.99 per month, or £99.99 / $99.99 for 6-months of access.

You can find out more from the official GeForce Now website.