Google Stadia's performance has been surpassed by Nvidia’s GeForce Now cloud gaming platform. The new $200-a year tier gives you nearly the same power as an RTX3080 desktop graphics card in cloud. However, if you are grandfathered in to the $4.99 per month "Founders" tier or $100 per year for "Priority", you might not get exactly what you expect. Nvidia quietly revealed that it has capped the frame rates of 12 games to ensure consistent performance.
Nvidia now has a support page via 9to5Google explaining this practice. This is after Redditors and other users revealed that many games were locked to frames rates below 60fps. Nvidia has been doing this for some time, but it was only for a few demanding games. A little research revealed that some users were complaining about Cyberpunk 2077's 45fps limit in December 2020. This is exactly what Nvidia has admitted to here.
Other games with sub-50fps frames rates include Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Immortals Fenyx Rising, and others that are a little higher. Below is a complete list of games with frame rates that are limited.
It's not an ideal look for Nvidia retroactively revealing something like this. However, Nvidia claims that the vast majority run at 60fps and higher. The company also has an explanation for these limits.
Our Priority Members have 60 frames per second or more for most of the 1,100+ games they've joined. Some games, however, do not run at 60 FPS with the GPUs of Priority members. These graphics-intensive games can't be overridden by the default OPS. This is done to ensure that all Priority members have a consistent and high-quality experience.
It is a bit odd that Nvidia decided to force this rather than giving users the option to choose between frame rate or graphical quality. Many console games, including those on Xbox and PlayStation 2, allow for you to make these choices. Cloud gaming is supposed to be easier. Perhaps you don't care about the graphical settings.
We are asking Nvidia if it will make sure that the new RTX3080 tier is free from frame rate caps in future. GeForce Now boss Phil Eisler stated that this would offer a new level of gaming experience in a briefing last month. The 3080 Tier gives you exclusive access to the 3080. Every time you play, you get an 3080. Even if your frame rate is 300 frames per second.
GeForce Now's free Tier does not have this limitation. It can use virtual GPU techniques in order to split one physical GPU from the cloud between two users. This can reduce the cost of the service. We also want to know if this happens in Priority tier.
