Discord Will Now Let You Try AAA Games for Free

How it Works

 If you’re hanging out in a Discord server during this early testing phase, you’ll spot a shiny “Try a Game” button next to certain games. Smash that button and—bam—you’re diving straight into a game session via GeForce Now (assuming you’ve hooked up your Epic Games account, of course). They’re showing this off at Gamescom right now, and Fortnite’s the guinea pig for the whole thing. Not a bad way to flex, honestly.

Nvidia’s product marketing director, Andrew Fear, says, “You’ll be playing Fortnite in seconds without any downloads or installs.” Sounds slick, right? Well, hold up—don’t toss your Epic Games login just yet. You still gotta connect your account, so it’s not totally frictionless. Close, but not quite the magic one-click fantasy.

Limited-Time Demo

Right now, you only get about half an hour to mess around with the Fortnite demo—blink and you’ll miss it. Nvidia’s calling this a “technology announcement” (which is just a fancy way of saying “don’t get too excited yet”). Nobody really knows if this thing’s gonna stick around after Gamescom, or if they’ll add more games to the lineup anytime soon. Classic “wait and see” situation, honestly.

Okay, look—instant game streaming? That’s not exactly a fresh concept. Gaikai was doing its thing ages ago (Sony scooped them up in 2012, remember?), and then Google Stadia tried to get people hyped with those “play before you pay” demos. Didn’t really catch on, though. Why? Turns out, publishers weren’t thrilled about folks poking around in their games for free, no strings attached.

Now Nvidia’s tossing their hat in the ring, hoping to stir up some excitement. Could work, if the game studios actually get on board this time. Right now, it’s all just a big “maybe”—they’re still tinkering with it, and who knows when (or if) it’ll actually launch. So don’t hold your breath.