You can jury-rig your own GeForce Now app on Deck, but a native Linux app would be such an easy win.
"There is not a native app on Steam deck today," said Andrew Fear, GFN boss, back in January. "Use a Chromium browser to make it work. I would say that both Nvidia and Valve, I think we're both interested in making [GeForce Now on Steam Deck] better. But we don't have any announcements on a native app coming to Steam."
EDIT: After reading other comments I realize I mistook GeForce Now for GeForce Experience. While I still disagree that SD/Linux is "crying out for it" I actually think bringing GeForce Now to Linux would be a good move.
I just play the games locally on the deck and that includes CP2077 which works good enough for me. I have the option to play off my desktop via the Steam remote play thing but I’ve never tried it. From what I understand, it should be the same (or similar experience) to playing via the Steam remote option? Is that right?
That's correct. I used to do most of my steam deck gaming by streaming games from my desktop. It's a seamless experience, as much as anything is on the Deck. I still prefer to stream games from the desktop that benefit from better hardware, like BG3.
It saves battery life and let's you have a higher and smoother framerate. You're talking shit on something you've never even tried. Playing on high graphics at 60fps is a hell of a lot nicer than low graphics at 30 fps.
Comments here are fun, seem a 3 way split between people thinking it’s GeForce Experience, game stream, and finally the actual cloud streaming service running your own Steam games.
Back when I had a 1060 3gb it was awesome! Always giving me nearly flawless settings for games, now with a 3060… we have very strong disagreements about the ideal settings.
That said yeah, a random software to install, that requires a new account and all for the privilege of installing the drivers? Hard sell.
As Linux gains in popularity for gaming, there will be endless articles about corporate stuff from the Windows world that Linux users clearly cannot live without. But the fact is, Linux is gaining ground in part because it does not have them. The simplicity of it all, especially on AMD, is light years ahead of the kind of ecosystem Nvidia and others may want to continue to force down consumers' throats.
It's a Steam Deck. Connected to Steam. I don't think many people are suffering from a shortage of Steam games to play.
"Yes, Andrew Fear (great name by the way), when I finish playing the 500 games already in my library, and start playing the 200 I already own but haven't started yet... which all work on it... I mean, yeah, I'll definitely look at whatever it is you're on about"
[Edit] I have misunderstood it as a game rental/streaming service, rather than a computer rental/streaming service
Even a chromium browser doesnt work well. It doesnt use hardware acceleration, so high bitrate and resolution are out of the question. When you DO force use hardware acceleration, the video you receive misses a part of the dark black colors, so the video is darker and games that are already dark, are completely unplayable.
This has been an issue for years and i have worked on the issue myself but this is not fixable on the user side. And nvidia doesnt care.
I do believe Moonlight is a bit better but Steam Streaming has been reliable and high enough quality for me not to care enough to use Moonlight most of the time.
I've played 100 hours of Elden Ring streaming and the difference between steam and moonlight is night and day in my experience. Steam struggled to hit 60fps streaming (definitely not the computer's fault: it's their streaming codecs or something) while moonlight is rock steady 60fps.
What does GeForce NOW offer that isn't already on Linux? My drivers are updated automatically, and streaming through Moonlight/Sunshine is incredibly easy to setup. Okay, GeForce NOW can customize the settings of all of my games, but I've literally never used that feature because the settings they suggest are awful anyway.
Oh! I had never heard of that. My mistake. Is that different than Moonlight/Sunshine game steaming? Does it stream from the internet like (the now defunct) Stadia rather than a local machine?
I would say that both Nvidia and Valve, I think we're both interested in making [GeForce Now on Steam Deck] better.
To me, this is like saying that HP would want their printers to use non HP cartridges....
The printers and the steam deck are not making much money by themselves, the money is made by selling the games or cartridges or subscription
As a user it would be nice to have it, but saying that it is something that Valve would obviously want invest in it, does not make sense to me