[Ars] Should we be required to create an account to get drivers?

[Paratus]

Latest Nvidia drivers to be locked behind GeForce Experience app

The decades-old process of searching out graphics drivers on the web will be somewhat limited for Nvidia cards come December. That's when the company will begin pushing out its regular "Game Ready Driver" updates exclusively through the existing GeForce Experience (GFE) app and will begin requiring users to register an account to get them.

Nvidia will still release quarterly driver updates via its website and through the OS-level Windows Update feature. But the Game Ready Drivers, which have included optimizations for every big-name game released in the past few years, will soon only be available to people who have signed up for GFE with an account tied to their e-mail address. The GFE app currently has no such login requirements.

While it looks like this has a thread already in NV I wanted to bring up a more global question.

Is this where the industry as a whole is going? Because this seems like a really good way to increase the number of people running older drivers.

i can't say having another account that can have personal information stolen is all that appealing.

The other question is once drivers for a very expensive piece of hardware go up behind an account how likely is it to go behind a pay wall as well?

 

[Teizo]

No matter how they spin it, removing choice is stupid and bad practice. Above all else, it simply boils down to that.

 

[5150Joker]

The best compromise would be to move the Game Ready drivers to GFE and not require registration and just keep it optional like it is right now. With them requiring registration, it's obviously to farm e-mails and send their customers marketing e-mails. Not a smart PR move but a good business strategy in the long run. The pay wall thing will never happen.

 

[tential]

You may complain, but IMO, I think a lot of users will be happy about it. Nvidia focusing on using the GFE app to keep drivers up to date will mean that a LOT of gamers who rely on the GFE app will now see even more focus on it from Nvidia and will get even MORE benefits from using it.

A HUGE amount of people I see online use the GFE app heavily.

Many enthusiasts will complain.
The core userbase will be happy to comply, and will be fine with the marketing emails because it will inform them of exactly when the new drivers, new games, and new cards are coming out.

AMD simply is not in a position to compete.

The reason I have my R9 290 is because the person couldn't use Raptr to update their drivers. They were stuck on some old 14. something before even the OMEGA drivers.
So they sold me their card, and went out and got a GTX 970 and they love GFE and actually we still talk all the time now. He likes his 970, and the Nvidia package as a whole.

Hardcore/Enthusiasts on here forget just how valuable those addons are to the average gamer.

Summary:
Enthusiasts want a clean install of their drivers using tools.
Casuals want a 1 click simple solution and Nvidia is catering to their large base and trying to pull them further into their ecosystem.

 

[tential]

The move is part of an overhaul for GFE that just reached beta, adding new features like 1080p, 60fps Twitch/Youtube streaming, and in-home streaming to an Nvidia Shield at 4K resolution with 5.1 surround sound.

Nvidia is trying to pull more people into an ecosystem that they are investing a lot of resources into it seems.

 

[Silverforce11]

The best approach would be to have both. GFE users can auto-update to the latest drivers, as well as power users can still download that off the website directly. No registration required.

I see no harm in doing both, it makes every gamer happy.

 

[Paratus]

The best compromise would be to move the Game Ready drivers to GFE and not require registration and just keep it optional like it is right now. With them requiring registration, it's obviously to farm e-mails and send their customers marketing e-mails. Not a smart PR move but a good business strategy in the long run. The pay wall thing will never happen.

Would there be a benefit to the user to move the game ready drivers to GFE? ( I actually don't know).

I would agree that the paywall will never happen except for the push across the industry for "services". Microsoft Office ca know now be a monthly service.

If there's limited competition for GPUs what's to stop us from being charged a couple of bucks a month for optimized drivers, (after being prettied up by the marketing department of course). How many would be willing to jump ship?

 

[TXBPNT]

One more reason for me to not buy a nvidia card.Arctic Islands,here i come.

 

[Subyman]

I don't like it. I usually have GFE running. So it won't be a big deal for me but depending on how they make the process work it could be annoying during a fresh install to have to download GFE, sign in, and then have the drivers download instead of simply downloading them.

Requiring more steps compared to a previous method is bad for the consumer IMO.

 

[littleg]

Nvidia is trying to pull more people into an ecosystem that they are investing a lot of resources into it seems.

I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing. They're investing in their software to improve the end user experience and make things easier and more streamlined for the average Joe.

If anything we should be pushing AMD to implement a similar simple solution like GFE for their hardware.

 

[frozentundra123456]

Just no. It is a terrible idea.

I have an AMD card and absolutely hate Raptor. I am running a HD7770 and can barely play W3 at 1080 lowest settings. I wondered why it was running even worse than usual one day and it turns out Raptor had "optimized" my setting to med and TURNED HAIRWORKS ON. I hate all these services. My previous card was nVidia, and I was very happy with the way drivers were updated. I was thinking of going nVidia for my next upgrade, but having to register to upgrade drivers would definitely make me think twice.

I dont want to stream games, or have a social experience, or have big brother "optimize" my games. Just let my play my games in peace and manually go the the AMD or nVidia site monthly to update my drivers. It is really not that difficult.

 

[5150Joker]

Would there be a benefit to the user to move the game ready drivers to GFE? ( I actually don't know).

I would agree that the paywall will never happen except for the push across the industry for "services". Microsoft Office ca know now be a monthly service.

If there's limited competition for GPUs what's to stop us from being charged a couple of bucks a month for optimized drivers, (after being prettied up by the marketing department of course). How many would be willing to jump ship?

Benefit? Maybe if you believe NVIDIA's explanation that it simplifies the divide between frequent Game Ready drivers vs. casual/professional users that can use the website for official WHQL quarterly drivers. Then again, it could just all be b.s. to expand GFE as an integral part of the entire package which isn't necessarily a bad thing since GFE does have some nice features. However, it will antagonize some of the core enthusiasts but if their 90% number is to be believed, the vast majority will be oblivious.

I personally use GFE but I don't agree with NVIDIA's move to force it on every single user even if they want to advertise more services using GFE (e.g. their cloud service) and have their customers exposed to it. It's not a wise move on one hand but on the other with AMD no longer posing any competition, who's going to really stop them from moving forward on this? In fact, I think if AMD was viable and had enough money, regardless of marketshare, both of them would pursue a similar strategy. I mean look at AMD's crappy 3rd party knock off called Raptr, it already has built in ads so they've gone further than GFE in that regard.

So a good compromise for now, given NVIDIA's intent, is to remove the registration requirement for the Game Ready drivers and keep it optional like it is right now.

 

[tential]

I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing. They're investing in their software to improve the end user experience and make things easier and more streamlined for the average Joe.

If anything we should be pushing AMD to implement a similar simple solution like GFE for their hardware.

Like I said above, it's BECAUSE of the fact that AMD's ecosystem sucked, that the person sold their R9 290 to me.

The best approach would be to have both. GFE users can auto-update to the latest drivers, as well as power users can still download that off the website directly. No registration required.

I see no harm in doing both, it makes every gamer happy.

Might be a fundamental change in how it works as well. Looking at the timing of it, it's after every single card has launched that a user would purchase. The only thing left is Fury X2 which isn't selling much. 7 months of time for Nvidia to show the value in the new GFE they are working on.

Also, I just think Nvidia simply doesn't care. I just don't think many Nvidia users will switch to Arctic Islands over this. After 7 months of the process, they'll just be used to it. The rage/annoyance will be over for the vast majority of people.

 

[LTC8K6]

And if there is a video card driver that doesn't work, or borks your system, you are going to get it automatically?

I'd rather be able to wait and learn about a new video card driver before I decide to install it.

 

[Shmee]

See my post in the other thread.

 

[AnandThenMan]

Nvidia seems to be allowing less and less choice to their loyal users. Always happens when a company becomes dominate in a market better get used to it I suppose. I'm being pushed more and more to a console honestly.

 

[Shmee]

Nvidia seems to be allowing less and less choice to their loyal users. Always happens when a company becomes dominate in a market better get used to it I suppose. I'm being pushed more and more to a console honestly.

Isn't that the worst of all?

 

[tential]

Isn't that the worst of all?

Meh, I believe a lot of people should probably be console gaming. It seems they really only play Triple A titles, and they rarely want to upgrade their hardware, they essentially are playing at console settings.

I've seen a number of people who have gaming setups that are basically console settings and they say "I don't want to be a console peasant lol!"

I would say I wouldn't be surprised if there was a good chunk of PC gamers who could easily get a superior experience from a console.

Then there are the rest of us, where a console simply won't cut it. I can't even play any game right now because I don't have a 4K display. Devil May Cry 4 just isn't getting played until I can play it in 4K. I'd love to do 8k downsampled to 4K but well, AMD drivers, and I'm not in the mood to do RadeonPro.

Which again just goes to why Nvidia is doing well. My situation wouldn't even happy, I'd just use 8k DSR.

The new PC gamer isn't like the PC gamer you and I grew up with. They want to plug and play. They don't want to deal with ANY OF THIS. Nvidia is realizing that while we're still stuck in the past.
Edit:Essentially, get ready for some Apple style moves.

 

[Shmee]

Meh, I believe a lot of people should probably be console gaming. It seems they really only play Triple A titles, and they rarely want to upgrade their hardware, they essentially are playing at console settings.

I've seen a number of people who have gaming setups that are basically console settings and they say "I don't want to be a console peasant lol!"

I would say I wouldn't be surprised if there was a good chunk of PC gamers who could easily get a superior experience from a console.

Then there are the rest of us, where a console simply won't cut it. I can't even play any game right now because I don't have a 4K display. Devil May Cry 4 just isn't getting played until I can play it in 4K. I'd love to do 8k downsampled to 4K but well, AMD drivers, and I'm not in the mood to do RadeonPro.

Which again just goes to why Nvidia is doing well. My situation wouldn't even happy, I'd just use 8k DSR.

The new PC gamer isn't like the PC gamer you and I grew up with. They want to plug and play. They don't want to deal with ANY OF THIS. Nvidia is realizing that while we're still stuck in the past.
Edit:Essentially, get ready for some Apple style moves.

The fairest point here, some people should just stay away from computers

I also happen to hate Apple.

 

[tential]

The fairest point here, some people should just stay away from computers

I also happen to hate Apple.

That's a large part of why PCs are the way they are right now.
A lot more console gamers joined PC gaming. PC Gamers sat there all day on forums like neogaf showing how PC gaming was superior. How PC gaming was cheaper, how it was actually not that expensive to build a PC and it could be used for other tasks!

Well, this is the result of the influx of a mass of new people who aren't really PC enthusiasts. It's pulled to the average and the average is now something where 90% of people will be happy with GFE. This would have never flown awhile back but now? Now it is desirable.

The audience of PCgaming has changed.

 

[3DVagabond]

There are a number of people who wait to see before they update their drivers. There are too often new drivers that break more than they fix for some users. Then there's the odd catastrophic driver. I don't even use Windows automatic update. I do them manually.

 

[tential]

There are a number of people who wait to see before they update their drivers. There are too often new drivers that break more than they fix for some users. Then there's the odd catastrophic driver. I don't even use Windows automatic update. I do them manually.

I don't disagree, I do the same as you.
Just saying, we're in the minority now. Nvidia is looking at their userbase, and catering to that userbase. Can't blame them for it.

AMD is run by engineers. They have no idea what Nvidia is doing right now. So I wouldn't worry for yourself =D.

 

[3DVagabond]

I don't disagree, I do the same as you.
Just saying, we're in the minority now. Nvidia is looking at their userbase, and catering to that userbase. Can't blame them for it.

AMD is run by engineers. They have no idea what Nvidia is doing right now. So I wouldn't worry for yourself =D.

Not worried really. Although it is the way things are going. No way to stop it. Doesn't mean I have to like it though.

I mean why go through all of this? Just make driver updates a part of Windows update. If we aren't going to be able to choose our own drivers anyway, why not?

Waiting for the first driver that bricks cards though and watch nVidia try and not take the responsibility.

 

[imaheadcase]

Misleading title much? You don't have to create any account for drivers..lol

 

[littleg]

That's a large part of why PCs are the way they are right now.
A lot more console gamers joined PC gaming. PC Gamers sat there all day on forums like neogaf showing how PC gaming was superior. How PC gaming was cheaper, how it was actually not that expensive to build a PC and it could be used for other tasks!

Well, this is the result of the influx of a mass of new people who aren't really PC enthusiasts. It's pulled to the average and the average is now something where 90% of people will be happy with GFE. This would have never flown awhile back but now? Now it is desirable.

The audience of PCgaming has changed.

Kids these days don't even know what an autoexec.bat or config.sys is never mind how to edit one for a bit more base memory.

Damned kids. Get off my lawn.