Keeping Games Up to Date in the Cloud with GeForce NOW

GeForce NOW ensures your favorite games are automatically up to date, avoiding game updates and patches. Simply login, click PLAY, and enjoy an optimal cloud gaming experience.

Here’s an overview on how the service keeps your library game ready at all times.

Updating Games for All GeForce NOW Members

When a gamer downloads an update on their PC, all that matters is their individual download.

In the cloud, the GeForce NOW team goes through the steps of patching or maintenance and makes the updated game available for millions of members around the world.

Depending on when you happen to hop on GeForce NOW, you may not even see these updates taking place. In some cases, you’ll be able to keep playing your game while we’re updating game bits. In others, we may need to complete the backend work before it’s ready to play.

Patching in GeForce NOW

Patching is the process of making changes to a game or its supporting data to update, fix or improve it.

It typically takes a few minutes, sometimes longer for a game to patch on GeForce NOW.

When a developer releases a new version of a game, work is done on the backend of GeForce NOW to download that patch, replicate each bit to all of our storage systems, test for the proper security features, and finally copy it back onto all of our data centers worldwide, becoming available for gamers.

GeForce NOW handles this entire process so gamers and developers can focus on, well, gaming and developing.

Different Types of Patching

Three types of patching occur on GeForce NOW:

On-seat patching allows you to play your game as-is while the patch is downloading in the background. Meaning you’re always game ready.
Offline patching happens for games that don’t support on-seat patching. Our automated software system downloads the patch on the backend then updates. Offline patching can take minutes to hours.
Distributed patching is a quicker type of patching. Specific bits are downloaded and installed, instead of the entire game (100 GB or so). We then finish updating and copy them onto the server. Typically this takes 30 minutes or less.

GeForce NOW continues to work with game developers requesting patch updates before releasing on PC, allowing for real-time preparations in the cloud, resulting in zero wait for gamers, period.

Maintenance Mode Explained

Maintenance mode is the status of a game that’s been taken offline for bigger fixes such as bugs that cause poor performance, issues with save games, or patches that need more time to deploy.

Depending on severity, a game in maintenance can be offline anywhere from days to weeks. We work to keep these maintenance times to a minimum, and often work directly with game developers to resolve these issues.