Michael Crider
If you’ve been itching for the chance to play your GeForce NOW games on your budget Chromebook laptop, now you can. Maybe. Sort of. A user on Reddit managed to sideload the Android version of the NVIDIA service via the APK file, and it technically works, but getting any games to actually stream is something of a headache.
In testing on a Pixelbook and Pixel Slate, we found that some games requiring a controller just wouldn’t work (even with one connected via wired or Bluetooth), and some that required keyboard input to log in wouldn’t, either. I was able to stream Fortnite, but my controller wouldn’t work and mouse look was broken, making actual play impossible. I got into a couple of simpler games, like Into The Breach and Brawlhalla, but the latter wouldn’t work with my controller either. Which is kind of a deal-breaker for a fighting game.
Getting it set up isn’t easy. You’ll need a Chrome OS device that supports running Android apps, and then you have to go into developer mode to enable side-loading the APK installer file. (That means wiping your laptop clean if it isn’t already in developer mode.) So to put it mildly, this isn’t something most players will be willing to do at the moment.
NVIDIA has said that they’re working on bringing GeForce NOW to Chromebooks in a more official capacity, and that it’ll be available later this year. In other GeForce NOW news, the service added nineteen new games to its streaming library this week:
- ATOM RPG Trudograd (released Monday, May 11)
- Super Mega Baseball 3 (releasing Wednesday, May 13)
- Aven Colony
- Battlestar Galactica Deadlock
- Bomber Crew
- Children of Morta
- Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony
- Dead Island: Riptide Definitive Edition
- The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC
- Europa Universalis III Complete
- Fate/EXTELLA
- Goat Simulator
- The King of Fighters XIV
- Kingdom: New Lands
- Men of War: Assault Squad
- Party Hard
- Risen 2: Dark Waters
- Surgeon Simulator
- The Wild Eight
As with all GeForce NOW games, players need to have the game purchased and available on its respective game store (Steam, Epic, Uplay) in order to stream via NVIDIA’s virtual gaming machines.
Source: Reddit via 9to5Google
