Ahead of Gamescom 2025, NVIDIA GeForce NOW kicked off the con strong, announcing that Blackwell Architecture is coming to the platform.
Gamescom is the perfect time for game-centred announcements, and NVIDIA didn’t disappoint with their gamescom 2025 announcements, especially with regard to their GeForce NOW game streaming platform. First things first, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 GPUs will be accessible as soon as September 2025 to the platform’s Ultimate Tier users.
So, what do these GPUs deliver:
- 62 teraflops of compute power.
- 48GB frame buffer.
- 2.8x faster frame rates than previous servers.
- 360 fps at 1080p with NVIDIA Reflex.
- Sub-30ms latency via NVIDIA SuperPODs.
NVIDIA boasts that the performance from the RTX 5080 GPUs on GeForce NOW will beat out the PlayStation 5 Pro nearly threefold. Bringing the 5080 to the cloud gaming platform means big changes for gamers. It means that NVIDIA DLSS 4 Multi-Frame Generation will be available for your favourite games, allowing you to stream up to 5K resolution and 120FPS. For me, it means a stunning picture when I dock my ROG Ally X to my 4K TV.
To celebrate, NVIDIA is bringing another insane list of AAA titles to the platform, including but not limited to:
- Borderlands 4
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 7
- The Outer Worlds 2
- Dying Light: The Beast
- Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2
- Arc Raiders
- CINDER CITY
NVIDIA GeForce NOW has also announced Install-to-Play, which could be revolutionary for PC players. You will be able to install your own Steam games (that have opted into GeForce NOW), playable on the cloud streaming platform using NVMesh cloud storage, giving you access to all that GeForce NOW offers, including those shiny new RTX 5080 GPUs. This means that you are no longer limited by what NVIDIA has ready to go on GeForce NOW; you can bring your own games and benefit from their powerful servers, bringing top-tier gaming on whatever you are playing on.
After sitting in with NVIDIA at gamescom 2025, the team explained a bit about how this works and why they did it. Essentially, hundreds of publishers have opted in to be a part of GeForce NOW, which is great for the platform, but with so many opting in, NVIDIA can only optimize and store so many games at a time. Having gamers load in their own games, the ones that publishers have opted in for but are still on the NVIDIA waiting list, so to speak, the GeForce NOW library is exponentially bigger.
It’s a win-win situation. You don’t have to wait for NVIDIA to get to the games you love, and you can still use those RTX 5080s to play games that haven’t been optimized yet. Install-to-Play lets you play those games seamlessly, and with their storage service, the download, optimize and load time will be a one-time only event, rather than every time you want to play. Storage will be a paid service, and if you’re like me, you scoffed at the idea of more subscriptions. However, the storage is surprisingly reasonably priced.
Install-to-Play Cloud Storage Tiers & Pricing
- Ultimate & Performance members get 100GB free session storage.
- 200GB: $2.99/month
- 500GB: $4.99/month
- 1TB: $7.99/month
NVIDIA also wants you to get into the game faster and has paired with Discord and Fortnite to allow you to jump into a session without any downloads or sign-ups. All you need is an Epic account. Essentially, if you see a friend playing in Discord, you can jump into Fortnite, right in the Discord browser, without the hassle of downloads and installs; “instant” is the word NVIDIA used. For now, this is only possible with Fortnite, but NVIDIA hopes to see this grow to other games.
I was able to get a peek at how this works at the NVIDIA gamescom 2025 event. Essentially, this is ideal for game discovery. Of course, we all know Fortnite, so discovery isn’t really necessary there, but this is only the first step. In Discord, you can see what your friends are playing. For Fortnite, if you see a friend online and playing, you can hit the “try” button, and if your Epic account is linked, you will be pulled directly into your Fortnite lobby, playing at 1440p, 60 FPS.
Veteran players will have access to anything tied to their Epic account and have the ability to join player lobbies. The hope is that more publishers will opt in, allowing you to jump into games you’ve never heard of to see what they are all about.
We have talked a lot about software and GPUs, but NVIDIA made sure to bring device and peripheral announcements to gamescom 2025 as well. Starting with the Steam Deck, which now allows access to NVIDIA GeForce NOW, users will see a performance boost from 60FPS to 90FPS. LG OLED monitors will be able to benefit from the RTX 5080 boost with 5K streaming on monitors, and 4K at 120 Hz with HDR playing directly on TVs, no need for a console.
I was able to see NVIDIA’s new Cinematic Quality Streaming on full display at their gamescom event as well. This new mode has been long-awaited by GeForce NOW users. Cinematic Quality Streaming brings 4:4:4 Chroma Color, AV1 with RPR, an AI Video Filter, DPI Awareness, a HUD Sharpness Filter, and 100 Mbps streaming. They had side-by-side comparisons of Black Myth: Wukong. In areas where fog, foliage and fine details came into play, their new RTX 5080 servers were able to capture details you couldn’t see on the 4080.
Mac users have not been left behind, either. GeForce NOW on Macs will receive full Blackwell Architecture upgrades as well. Lastly, racing fans rejoice, Logitech racing wheels will now be fully supported by NVIDIA GeForce NOW, even for games without native wheel support.
NVIDIA game out swinging, as they should for gamescom, one of the biggest gaming conventions in the world. NVIDIA GeForce NOW is revolutionary for the gaming world, making gaming accessible to everyone, regardless of hardware. It is great to see so many AAA games making themselves available on the platform, and now with Install-to-Play, GeForce NOW is even more convenient.
NVIDIA GeForce NOW Membership & Availability
- Ultimate: $19.99/month or $99.99/6 months
- Performance: $9.99/month or $49.99/6 months
- Annual plans: $199.99 (Ultimate), $99.99 (Performance)
The new NVIDIA GeForce NOW RTX 5080 rollouts begin in September 2025. Stay tuned to CGMagazine for all things gamesom and NVIDIA.
