Gamers love games — as do the people who make them.

GeForce NOW streams over 1,500 games from the cloud, and with the Game Developers Conference in full swing this week, today’s GFN Thursday celebrates all things games: the tech behind them, the tools that bring them to the cloud, the ways to play them and the new ones being added to the library this week.

Developers use a host of NVIDIA resources to deliver the best in PC cloud gaming experiences. CD PROJEKT RED, one of many developers to tap into these resources, recently announced a new update coming to Cyberpunk 2077 on April 11 — including a new technology preview for Ray Tracing: Overdrive Mode that enables full ray tracing on GeForce RTX 40 Series GPUs and RTX 4080 SuperPODs.

In addition, members in and around Sofia, Bulgaria, can now experience the best of GeForce NOW Ultimate cloud gaming. It’s the latest city to roll out RTX 4080 gaming rigs to GeForce NOW servers around the globe.

Plus, with five new games joining the cloud this week, and an upcoming marvel-ous reward, GeForce NOW members can look forward to a busy weekend of streaming goodness.

Developers, Mount Up!

GDC presents the ideal time to spotlight GeForce NOW tools that enable developers to seamlessly bring their games to the cloud. NVIDIA tools, software development kits (SDKs) and partner engines together enable the production of stunning real-time content that uses AI and ray tracing. And bringing these games to billions of non-PC devices is as simple as checking an opt-in box.

GeForce NOW taps into existing game stores, allowing game developers to reap the benefits of a rapidly growing audience without the hassle of developing for another platform. This means zero port work to bring games to the cloud. Users don’t have to buy games for another platform and can play them on many of the devices they already own.

Developers who want to do more have access to the GeForce NOW Developer Platform — an SDK and toolset empowering integration of, interaction with and testing on the NVIDIA cloud gaming service. It allows developers to enhance their games to run more seamlessly, add cloud gaming into their stores and launchers, and let users connect their accounts and libraries to GeForce NOW.

The SDK is a set of APIs, runtimes, samples and documentation that allows games to query for cloud execution and enable virtual touchscreens; launchers to trigger cloud streaming of a specified game; and GeForce NOW and publisher backends to facilitate account linking and game library ownership syncing, already available for Steam and Ubisoft games.

Content developers have a slew of opportunities to bring their virtual worlds and interactive experiences to users in unique ways, powered by the cloud.

Metaverse services company Improbable will use NVIDIA cloud gaming infrastructure for an interactive, live, invite-only experience that will accommodate up to 10,000 guests. Other recent developer events included the DAF Trucks virtual experience, where potential customers took the newest DAF truck for a test drive in a simulated world, with PixelMob’s Euro Truck Simulator 2 providing the virtual playground.

Furthermore, CD PROJEKT RED will be delivering full ray tracing, aka path tracing, to Cyberpunk 2077. Such effects were previously only possible for film and TV. With the power of a GeForce RTX 4080 gaming rig in the cloud, Ultimate members will be able to stream the new technology preview for the Ray Tracing: Overdrive Mode coming to Cyberpunk 2077 across devices — even Macs — no matter the game’s system requirements.

Get Ready for a Marvel-ous Week

GeForce NOW Ultimate members have been enjoying Marvel’s Midnight Suns’ ultra-smooth, cinematic game play thanks to DLSS 3 technology support on top of RTX-powered ray tracing, which together enable graphics breakthroughs.

Now, members can fight among the legends with Captain Marvel’s Medieval Marvel suit in a free reward, which will become available at the end of the month — first to Premium members who are opted into GeForce NOW rewards. This reward is only available until May 6, so upgrade to an Ultimate or Priority membership today and opt into rewards to get first access.

Next, on to the five new games hitting GeForce NOW week for a happy weekend:

• Tchia (New release on Epic Games Store)
• Chess Ultra (New release on Epic Games Store, March 23)
• Amberial Dreams (Steam)
• Symphony of War: The Nephilim Saga (Steam)
• No One Survived (Steam)

And with that, we’ve got a question to end this GFN Thursday:

You’ve got free rent for a year to live in a video game city of your choice, which one are you choosing?