NVIDIA wants to keep its "beta" testers just a while longer

Aug 11, 2015 14:37 GMT  ·  By

When it was launched in November 2014, GRID was supposed to be a "super computer in the cloud" that allowed players to stream their games from a cloud service to their PCs or consoles just like movies from Netflix.

To boost the system's popularity, NVIDIA decided to offer the new gaming service for free to all SHIELD device owners until June 30, 2015. Apparently, that date has come and gone and the service is still available for free, and more than that, 58 gaming titles are available on the GRID catalogue.

However, it seems that NVIDIA hasn't forgotten about GRID, and although users who are testing the new cloud gaming service still have free access to their games, it won't stay like that for long. In September, NVIDIA plans to make GRID a paid service.

Right now, a high number of impressive titles are offered for free by NVIDIA. Games like Trine 2 Complete Story, Strike Suit Zero, F.E.A.R. 3, Batman Arkham Asylum, and Borderlands enrich the offer for those who want to test the new gaming-as-a-service system, while it's still in beta.

Currently, GRID is being supported by 6 servers around the world, including in USA North West, USA South West, USA East Coast, Northern Europe, Central Europe and Asia Pacific. These regions are classic locations known to offer the best quality of service available on a worldwide scale.

Back when it was launched, GRID could support only 720p60 streams with a catalogue of only 20 games, but right now the number more than doubled while the stream quality has risen to 1080p60.

Apparently, NVIDIA has been improving the quality of the system while it was tested for free, just enough to make it stable to be profitable. When NVIDIA decides to charge for it, the company hopes the service will be great enough for people to actually invest money in it.

A path trudged before

Unfortunately, the dream of cloud gaming isn't new. The last company to actually try this new method, with a certain amount of visibility, was the now defunct OnLive, which wanted to bring cloud gaming to consoles and PCs way back in 2003.

Together with a console similar to GRID, OnLive's Game System was basically a TV adapter that could control games being streamed via cable. However, the whole plan flopped the moment lag made action games almost impossible to play, and the video quality of streamed games was much poorer than of those actually played on systems. In the end, lack of sales, poor technological achievement and unreliable internet speeds around the world killed a project that might have been visionary.

NVIDIA seems to be following the same path now. Although it doesn't seem to risk too much with the new cloud gaming system, it should know that it is crossing a minefield. OnLive was eventually bought by Sony Entertainment for $4.5 million, while a few years before that, analysts estimated it was worth approximately $1.8 billion.