‘Gears 5’ is the first Xbox-exclusive to come to GeForce Now
It'll be joined by more Microsoft-owned titles later this month.
Earlier this year, Microsoft signed deals with a number of game streaming services to bring Xbox-exclusive titles to its rivals. Today we see the first fruits from the relationship ‘twixt Microsoft and NVIDIA as Gears 5 makes its bow on GeForce Now. The PC version of the title is available to play right now, with NVIDIA reminding users that it’s offering discounted signups between now and May 21st. And that higher-paying GeForce Now users can play the title in 1080p at 60fps, or in 4K 120fps if they’ve signed up to Ultimate. NVIDIA added that we should expect to see Deathloop, Grounded and Pentiment — three more Microsoft-owned titles — added to the service on May 25th.
All of this is part of Microsoft’s work to convince regulators to approve its mega-bucks purchase of Activision Blizzard. In order to convince officials that the vast trove of titles it’ll control should it be permitted to control the Call of Duty maker, it’s signed 10-year deals with rival platforms. That includes Nware, Boosteroid and NVIDIA, as well as a pledge to put Call of Duty on Nintendo’s consoles for a decade with a guarantee of full feature and content parity. That’s satisfied some bodies, like the EU, but not the UK, which feels that Microsoft’s potential control of the cloud gaming market could kill it before it flourishes.
