Cloud gaming service from Nvidia comes to Ukraine, but through a Russian partner who has no idea about that

Ukrainian users of the Nvidia GeForce Now cloud gaming service have received a letter stating that the project is leaving the stage of free beta testing in the region. Now, GeForce Now will be officially available in Ukraine and neighboring countries (CIS) but on a paid basis and through the Russian partner GFN.RU.

What is it and how it works

• Nvidia GeForce Now is a cloud gaming service. Games run on powerful server hardware, and there is streaming to a user device from there. Each game session continues no more than 3 hours in a row.
• The only requirement is a stable and fast connection. The games themselves must be bought first in Steam, Epic Games or another store, and then it is necessary to connect an account. In total, the library has more than 500 titles.
• For users of the Nvidia Shield TV media streaming box, it has been available for several years. But on PC, Mac, and Android, it has been in beta version since 2017 where participation is free but requires an invite.

What has changed

• Beta access has been extended to Ukraine until recently. Although Nvidia has no servers in the country, users have been connected to European computing capacity.
• On January 21, Nvidia announced that users from the CIS would gain access through a partner GFN.RU. Changes will take effect on January 30. A screenshot of the letter is attached below.

The letter says the following:

We are pleased to announce that GeForce NOW is available in Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Russia, Uzbekistan, and Ukraine through the GFN.RU partner portal. GeForce NOW allows you to play the most modern PC games in perfect quality on almost any PC or laptop, including Mac. As part of the GeForce NOW Alliance partnership in Moscow in October 2019, a new data center appeared that makes GeForce NOW more accessible for PC gamers in these regions.

• GFN.RU is a Russian service and offers subscriptions only in rubles. Their prices range from 999 rubles per month (approx. $16) to 9,999 rubles per year ( approx. $161).
• The support service of GFN.RU told the journalist of AIN.UA that they did not know about the forced transfer of users from other countries (including Ukraine). It is not yet known whether the service will also offer payment in other currencies. Now you can pay with a Ukrainian card, with conversion at the bank rate.

The support of GFN.RU in its reply informs:

You won’t believe it, but we don’t even have any information on the letter you received. I can’t inform you on tariffs yet.

• Nvidia has not answered this and previous AIN.UA requests regarding GeForce Now.
• Throughout the rest of the world, GeForce Now is still in closed free of charge beta mode. Nvidia has neither publicly announced the date of its official release, nor the possible pricing policy.