Gaming on a Chromebook just got better with a free year of Nvidia GeForce Now — here's how to get it

Asus Chromebook CX15 — (Image credit: Future / Tom's Guide)

Google and Nvidia are partnering to launch a new GeForce Now cloud gaming plan exclusive to Chromebooks. The new ad-free ‘Fast Pass’ tier gives Chromebook owners a way to stream over 2,000 games directly from your existing PC game library.

Starting today (Nov. 20), anyone who purchases a new Chromebook, including the best Chromebooks, will get a year of Fast Pass for free. Fast Pass has a few nice features and some restrictions in comparison to other GeForce Now tiers.

Here’s what Fast Pass gets you

GeForce Now Fast Pass press image — (Image credit: Google / Nvidia)

At first glance, the new gaming plan is similar to the current GeForce Now free plan which lets you stream more than 2,000 “Ready-to-Play” games from your existing Epic, Steam or Xbox libraries. The difference between that plan and the Chromebook version is that Fast Pass has no ads and “allows you to skip the queue,” whereas the free plan shows ads and typically has a wait of two or more minutes to start playing.

Fast Pass users are limited to 10 hours of cloud gaming each month, though five of those can be rolled over to the next month if you don’t use them up. Nvidia’s other paid plans, starting at $9.99 a month, come with more features like faster frame rates, higher resolutions and access to more games using the “Install-to-Play” feature.

This is an important difference that sets this new free “Fast Pass” for Chromebooks apart from paid GeForce Now subscriptions. If you pay for a plan you can access both GeForce Now’s library of “ready-to-play” games which are always kept up-to-date and ready to launch, and you can install games you own (on Steam, Epic, etc) on Nvidia servers if they’re not part of the “ready-to-play” list.

So while Fast Pass members won’t be able to install games they own on Nvidia servers and stream them to a Chromebook, you will be able to stream a variety of popular games like Borderlands 4 and The Outer Worlds 2.

Pricing remains unannounced

While Google and Nvidia are offering a year free with new purchases, neither company has announced how much the plan will cost once you have to start paying.

For comparison’s sake, GeForce Now’s Free tier is ad-supported and you are limited to 1-hour gaming sessions. The Performance tier costs $9.99 per month (or $99.99 per year) and does not include ads, but you are limited to 100 hours of playtime a month. Presumably, the Fast Pass plan for Chromebooks will cost less than either of those plans.

Tom’s Guide has reached out to Google for information on pricing and will update if the company responds.

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Scott Younker is the West Coast Reporter at Tom’s Guide. He covers all the lastest tech news. He’s been involved in tech since 2011 at various outlets and is on an ongoing hunt to build the easiest to use home media system. When not writing about the latest devices, you are more than welcome to discuss board games or disc golf with him. He also handles all the Connections coverage on Tom's Guide and has been playing the addictive NYT game since it released.

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