Nvidia announces dedicated GeForce Now app for Steam Decks and more, streamlining cloud gaming for mixed-reality headset wearers too

pcgamer.com:

I've been enjoying some quality time with the office Steam Deck. It's an impressive bit of kit for sure, though I'm hardly putting it through its paces by catching up on Mouthwashing and replaying 1000xResist for the nth time.

With a year full of anticipated RPGs ahead, I'm wondering how Valve's handheld will fare playing something more demanding like Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth or Avowed. Well, Nvidia will be offering a big screen experience right there on your little screen later this year, as just announced at this year's CES, a native GeForce Now app is on its way to the Steam Deck (via The Verge).

According to the official blog post, game streaming via Geforce Now will deliver an experience with «all the bells and whistles of Nvidia technologies, including ray tracing and NVIDIA DLSS,» with an Ultimate-tier membership promising, «all the same benefits as GeForce RTX 4080 GPU owners.» If you're after that big screen experience on a bigger screen though, Nvidia says, «the native GeForce Now app will offer up to 4K resolution and 60 frames per second with high dynamic range» should you hook your Steam Deck up to an HDR monitor (if you're looking for recommendations, we've got several).

Technically, cloud gaming via GeForce Now has already been available on Steam Decks since at least May last year, but this required a special script that somewhat streamlined an otherwise sidelong process. This much-asked-for, dedicated app definitely makes things much easier, and it will be available on Steam Decks later this year.

But it won't just be Valve's handheld gaming PC finally enjoying a native GeForce Now experience. The cloud gaming service will also be coming to a slew of VR and mixed-reality headsets, including the Meta Quest 3 and 3S, all Pico headsets, and «Apple Vision Pro spatial computers.» Nvidia explains that subscribers who own these devices will be able to access GeForce Now by «opening the browser to play.geforcenow.com when the newest app update, version