GFN Thursday celebrates this leap day with the addition of a popular game store to the cloud. Stream the first titles from Blizzard Entertainment's Battle.net, including Diablo IV, Overwatch 2, Call of Duty HQ and Hearthstone, now playable across more devices than ever. They're all part of the 30 new games coming to GeForce NOW in March, with eight available this week. Plus, Day Passes, announced at CES, are coming to the cloud next week, enabling gamers to experience the benefits of GeForce NOW Ultimate and Priority memberships for 24 hours at a time.

Welcome to the Cloud
Battle.net is Blizzard's digital storefront, a gateway to adventures in the Blizzard universe and home to a vibrant gaming community. Members who own Diablo IV, Overwatch 2, Call of Duty HQ and Hearthstone on Battle.net can now stream these triple-A titles from NVIDIA GeForce RTX-powered servers in the cloud without worrying about hardware specs or long download times. Battle the forces of evil in the dark, treacherous world of Diablo IV's Sanctuary at up to 4K resolution and 120 frames per second with an Ultimate membership, even on under-powered devices. Assemble a deck to cast legendary spells in Hearthstone, and engage in epic firefights in Overwatch 2 and Call of Duty HQ at ultra-low latency thanks to the power of NVIDIA Reflex technology. Read this article and search for Hearthstone for more details on supported devices for this title.

NVIDIA Reflex is a game-changer, reducing system latency on GeForce graphics cards and laptops so your actions occur quicker, giving you a competitive edge in multiplayer matches, and making single-player titles more responsive and enjoyable. Since its debut in September 2020, NVIDIA Reflex is now reducing system latency in over 100 games, over 90% of GeForce gamers enable Reflex. 9 of the top 10 competitive shooters feature Reflex support, including Apex Legends, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, Call of Duty: Warzone, Counter-Strike 2, Fortnite and Overwatch 2, along with critically acclaimed smash hit games such as Cyberpunk 2077, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Diablo IV, Remnant 2, God of War, Microsoft Flight Simulator, Red Dead Redemption 2, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, and Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered.

In 2023 alone, GeForce gamers played over 10 billion hours of their favorite titles with increased responsiveness thanks to Reflex's innovative system latency reducing technology. Adoption of Reflex continues to accelerate and in 2024 you'll see many more anticipated titles launch with support. Since our last update, Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden and Escape from Tarkov: Arena have added support for Reflex. And the latest seasons of Apex Legends, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, Call of Duty: Warzone, and Overwatch 2 are all enjoyed at their best with Reflex reducing system latency and further increasing responsiveness.

As many of you know, two weeks ago, there were a series of changes made to the Overwatch team, as well as other teams across Blizzard. Writing a public blog is difficult in the wake of these events. I want to express gratitude for the absolutely amazing people who worked on our game that are no longer on our team. I want the community to feel informed, and I want to convey our excitement about what is to come in Season 9. To be honest, it's a lot to balance—but one of the things we've been most proud of is how we've kept lines of communication open between the team and our community, and we intend to continue that.

In that spirit, yesterday, we shared the exciting changes you are going to experience with Competitive starting in Season 9. I'd like to give a bit more insight into why we are making these changes. In our previous Director's Take, we talked about improving the game's core PvP experience. There are different ways that we look at improving the game, but one of the biggest is listening to your feedback. Season 9 starts in less than a week, and the two biggest and best changes coming to the season and a lot of it is driven by feedback from you - our players along with our team's vision to make the game more fun and challenging for everyone.

GeForce NOW is celebrating its fourth anniversary all month—plus an extra day for leap year—during February's GFN Thursdays, with 2 new games joining the cloud. Keep an eye out for more new games and other announcements for members to come. Diablo IV and Overwatch 2 heat up the cloud this GFN Thursday to kick off the anniversary celebrations. They're the next Activision and Blizzard games to join GeForce NOW as part of the NVIDIA and Microsoft partnership, following Call of Duty.

The titles join the RAGE franchise as part of five new games joining the ever-expanding GeForce NOW library this week. Follow the #4YearsofGFN celebration and get the latest cloud gaming news on the newly launched GeForce NOW Instagram and Threads channels. Use #GFNShare and tag these accounts for a chance to be featured.

AMD today released a graphics driver update that comes with optimization for "Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League." This is an off-trunk, non-WHQL Preview driver, and bears the version number 23.40.02.03. It builds on top of the recently released Radeon Software Adrenalin 24.1.1 WHQL. Besides optimization for "Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League," the update also fixes an issue that causes the game to exhibit display corruption with ray tracing enabled. AMD did take the opportunity to identify new issues with this release, as listed below. Notably, AMD is aware of excessive game loading times for "Deathloop" on machines with RX 6900 XT graphics cards; a "Dead Space" application crash with ray traced ambient occlusion enabled; and game stuttering with "Overwatch 2" observed in the first game of the session.

DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Preview Driver for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, version 23.40.02.03

Hello everyone… and happy 2024!!! We're at the start of the new year, I thought it would be a great idea to talk about our view of 2024. This Director's Take will be one part of a series where we frame up the year according to a set of values we're using to develop the game. These values translate into goals and specific additions and changes to the game. There's a lot of different things coming up this year that I want to share, so think of this as the first in a series of topics to cover.

One of the biggest values of the team is to improve Overwatch's individual and team focused gameplay to meet the needs of our core audience. When I look at the future of Overwatch, a year or two out, I don't see the exact same game that we're playing now, but with a few more heroes and maps added to it. The game should always evolve with new systems and features that serve our players. Some of these features could live just outside of a match, such as a map voting system.

NVIDIA Reflex is a must-have in games, reducing system latency so your actions occur quicker, giving you a competitive edge in multiplayer matches, and making single-player titles more responsive and enjoyable. NVIDIA Reflex is now used by over 50 million players each month, is available in 9 of the top 10 competitive shooters, including Counter-Strike 2, and is activated by 90% of GeForce gamers in over 80 supported titles. NVIDIA Reflex is synonymous with responsive gaming, and can be found in the latest and greatest games. Counter-Strike 2 and Overwatch 2 Season 7: Rise of Darkness are reducing system latency with Reflex today, and Warhammer: Vermintide 2 adds support in the coming days.

Overwatch 2 Season 7 Available Now
NVIDIA Reflex enables GeForce gamers to play with minimal system latency in Overwatch 2's highly competitive multiplayer matches. Overwatch 2 Season 7: Rise of Darkness is now live. Defeat powerful bosses and level up your hero in the new Trials of Sanctuary game mode. Travel to a tropical paradise with the new Samoa map. Try out Sombra's new ability kit and look out for Roadhog's rework later in the season. Explore seasonal cosmetics in the shop or earn them with the Battle Pass. Using NVIDIA Reflex on a GeForce RTX 40 Series GPU, your actions have improved responsiveness, occurring virtually without delay, and performance is so high that you'll see the action at its best with maximum clarity.

Intel Graphics today announced the Q3-2023 major update of its Arc GPU Graphics drivers, which will be released shortly. The latest driver promises to be a transformative update recommended for all Intel GPU users. The company says that it has re-architected several under-the-hood components of the drivers to make A-series GPUs significantly faster. The company also put in engineering effort to reduce frame-times, and introduce a new way of measuring the GPU's contribution to it; so users can figure out whether they are in a CPU-limited scenario, or a GPU-limited one. Lastly, the company updated its PresentMonitor utility with a new front-end interface.

Intel Arc "Alchemist" is a ground up discrete GPU graphics architecture that was designed mainly for DirectX 12 and Vulkan, but over time, relied on API translation for DirectX 9 games. With its Spring driver updates, the company had released a major update that uplifted DirectX 9 game performance by 43% on average. This was because even though API translation was being used for DirectX 9 games, there was broad scope for per-game optimization, and DirectX 9 remains a relevant API for several current e-sports titles. With today's release, Intel promises a similar round of performance updates, with as much as 19% performance uplifts to be had in DirectX 11 titles at 1080p, measured with an A750 on a Core i5-13400F based machine. These gains are averaged to +12% on the fastest i9-13900K processor. The logic being that the slower processor benefits greater from the changes Intel made to its DirectX 11 driver.

Sometimes you want a chill game that lets you explore sorrow (in game, I don't want to explore sorrow IRL). Sometimes you want to explore wild environments while exploring mysteries, escaping flesh monsters, or even be the monster yourself. Some highly specific things you might want, and what a crazy happenstance, we've got just those games coming soon. Let's take a look!

Available Today
Everspace 2 (Cloud and Xbox Series X|S)
Step into the pilot seat in this fast-paced single-player space shooter where brutal challenges stand between you and epic loot. Embark on a sci-fi adventure where massive, handcrafted areas are packed with secrets, puzzles, and perils! Level up, craft, and loot better gear to survive on the edge of space.

Overwatch 2 is Blizzard's always-on and ever-evolving free-to-play, team-based action game that's set in an optimistic future, where every match is the ultimate 5v5 battlefield brawl. To unlock the ultimate graphics experience in each battle, upgrade to a GeForce RTX 40 Series graphics card, desktop PC, or laptop for class-leading performance, and unbeatable responsiveness courtesy of NVIDIA Reflex.

The invasion has begun in Overwatch 2's biggest season to date! Fight back in three co-op Player vs. Enemy Story Missions, play PvP as a new Support hero, and tier up the new Invasion Battle Pass to unlock new skins and cosmetics. And you can get the GeForce Overwatch 2 Invasion Ultimate Bundle with the purchase of select GeForce RTX 40 Series products at participating stores, starting today.

Overwatch 2: Invasion is here, and packed with a new hero, a new seasonal Battle Pass, and a new core PvP game mode. We're also bringing new Invasion Story Missions, a limited-time Co-op Event, and new ways to practice and celebrate your achievements with your favorite heroes. Let's check out everything that you can expect in the new update!

Illari is the newest Support Hero to join the ranks in Overwatch 2. What sets Illari apart from other Support heroes is that she has a very damage-focused kit, so that you can heal your team while dominating the opposition. Her Solar Rifle fires a beam of sunlight that can do powerful burst damage at long-range, or use it to heal allies around you. She also can support her team with a deployable Healing Pylon granting bursts of health to allies around it. Her Outburst ability will knock enemies back and propel herself out of danger. When you need to turn up the heat, use Captive Sun and fire a massive ball of solar energy. Opponents hit by this ultimate ability will be Sun Struck, making them vulnerable to lethal explosions if they take too much damage. Unlock Illari immediately when you get the Premium Battle Pass, or wait to unlock her on tier 45 for free. You can also unlock Illari—and all the heroes in Overwatch—with the new Overwatch 2 Complete Hero Collection, now available in the In-Game Shop.

As Blizzard evolves as a studio, inside and out, one of the ideas pushing us forward is meeting players around the world where they are and making our games as easy as possible to access and play. We want to give everyone a chance to experience our universes with old friends while making new ones, no matter how they choose to play.

Battle.net is the home of all our PC players, and over the years, we've evolved our platform to support updated technologies, capabilities, and our communities' expectations. But as we've evolved, the industry has evolved too-gaming is no longer just for specific communities as it was when Battle.net launched over two decades ago, gaming is for everyone-and though we remain committed to continually investing in and supporting Battle.net, we want to break down the barriers to make it easier for players everywhere to find and enjoy our games. Which is why we're trying something new...

NVIDIA today announced the "Unleash Your Ultimate" game bundle. The company is bundling "Overwatch 2" Ultimate Battle Pass with new purchases of GeForce RTX 40-series graphics cards, namely the RTX 4090, RTX 4080, RTX 4070 Ti, and the newly launched RTX 4070. The bundle covers eligible graphics cards purchased between April 13 2023 and May 8 2023; with the key redemption period ending on June 8 2023. The offer is only available in select regions, and through participating retailers.

Overwatch 2 Season 4 launches April 11! Blossom onto the battlefield with our newest Support Hero Lifeweaver, progress through the Battle Pass to earn rewards including Mythic Galactic Emperor Sigma, and fight for your faction when The Watchers and The Infinite Empire clash in the Starwatch event! Explore Talantis, the first-ever map made in collaboration with the community. Enjoy major quality-of-life updates with a revamped Competitive experience.

Watch the trailer to see what to expect with this upcoming season, which brings the new Support Hero Lifeweaver, a new Battle Pass, the community-made map called Talantis, and more. Progress through the Battle Pass to earn rewards including Mythic Galactic Emperor Sigma, and fight for your faction when The Watchers and The Infinite Empire clash in the Starwatch event.

Blizzard has released a new trailer showing its latest playable hero, Lifeweaver. It will launch alongside Season 4 on April 11th. Overwatch 2's latest support Hero is Lifeweaver, an intelligent and curious adventurer who plans to use his biolight technology to make the world a better place.

Lifeweaver will shift the dynamic of every fight by providing cover, leveraging his mobility, and impacting positioning in ways we've never seen before. Get acquainted with Lifeweaver's ability kit in his Gameplay Trailer and get ready for his debut in Season 4 on April 11.

Rather than another leak of performance numbers for NVIDIA's upcoming RTX 4090 and 4080 cards, the company has shared some performance numbers of their upcoming cards in Overwatch 2. According to NVIDIA, Blizzard had to increase the framerate cap in Overwatch 2 to 600 FPS, as the new cards from NVIDIA were simply too fast for the previous 400 FPS framerate cap. NVIDIA also claims that with Reflex enabled, system latency will be reduced by up to 60 percent.

As for the performance numbers, the RTX 4090 managed to 507 FPS at 1440p in Overwatch 2, using an Intel Core i9-12900K CPU, at the Ultra graphics quality setting. The RTX 4080 16 GB manages 368 FPS, with the RTX 4080 12 GB coming in at 296 FPS. The comparison to the previous generation cards is seemingly a bit unfair, as the highest-end comparison we get is an unspecified RTX 3080 that managed to push 249 FPS. This is followed by an RTX 3070 at 195 FPS and an RTX 3060 at 122 FPS. NVIDIA recommends an RTX 4080 16 GB if you want to play Overwatch 2 at 1440p 360 FPS+ and an RTX 3080 Ti at 1080p 360 FPS+.

Today marks the beginning of a new era for Blizzard Entertainment's award-winning franchise: Overwatch 2 is live now and free to play worldwide with cross-platform play and progression for all players on Windows PC via Battle.net, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch consoles! Setting the stage for years to come, Overwatch 2 will receive substantial seasonal updates, often including features such as new heroes, maps, game modes, cosmetics, and more released at a regular cadence.

Log in today to play as the recently unveiled support hero Kiriko: a fierce protector with a heart of gold. She joins tank hero Junker Queen and damage hero Sojourn as three game-changing women rounding out a playable roster that now includes 35 heroes. And what's a new era without a new look and feel? Going live today are updated appearances for every hero, numerous hero ability kit reworks, a new five-versus-five multiplayer format, six new maps, the new Push game mode, a new ping system, a redesigned competitive mode, and more—all experienced through updated graphics and audio engines. Additionally, the diverse cast of characters has never felt more alive, with over 40,000 new voice lines in the game.

AMD today released the latest version of the AMD Software Adrenalin drivers. Version 22.10.1 beta comes with optimization for "Overwatch 2," the hot new online shooter from Blizzard. The drivers also fix a couple of outstanding issues. The first one fixes "GPU for image processing" preference not being available in Adobe Lightroom, with graphics cards such as the Radeon RX 6000 series. The second one is an application crash experienced with "Street Fighter 6" beta. With this release AMD also acknowledges identifying several new issues, which it will fix in future releases.

DOWNLOAD: AMD Software Adrenalin 22.10.1 beta

NVIDIA today released the latest version of GeForce Game Ready drivers. Version 517.48 WHQL comes with optimization for Overwatch 2. It also offers optimization for Microsoft Flight Simulator with DLSS support. A number of bugs are addressed with this release. To begin with, display brightness settings not being applied correctly on certain kinds of Lenovo notebooks in dGPU mode, has been fixed. The "NVIDIA GPU only" toggle not persisting on reboots on certain notebooks, has been fixed. The "reduce noise" option with ray tracing in Adobe Illustrator appears pixellated, which has been fixed.

Random crashes in DirectML.dll with Adobe Photoshop have been fixed. Performance issues with VRR monitors in Fusion 360 has been fixed. Shadow flickering with "Jurassic World Evolution 2" has been fixed. Some UWP apps in Windows 11 exhibit lag with G-SYNC, which has been fixed. Language bugs with NVIDIA Control Panel has been fixed. External displays connected via USB-C or Thunderbolt dongles in Razer notebooks not correctly being detected, have been fixed. MS Flight Simulator exhibiting texture corruption after extended gameplay, has been fixed.

DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce 517.48 WHQL

Overwatch 2 is launching in early access with dynamic new PvP content releasing on Windows PC and Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch consoles on October 4, kicking off the next chapter for Blizzard Entertainment's acclaimed team-based shooter. Featuring a new five-versus-five multiplayer format with cross-platform play and cross-platform progression, Overwatch 2's PvP experience is designed to offer incredible and fresh competitive gameplay with a new, free-to-play model and major game updates such as new heroes, hero reworks, maps, modes, and premium cosmetics.

At launch, players will have an opportunity to get their hands on the newest tank hero to join the roster, the ruthless Australian-born ruler of Junkertown: the Junker Queen. More details on the Junker Queen, Overwatch 2's live service model and seasonal content plan, and the upcoming phase of the game's closed beta testing will be shared during the Overwatch 2 Reveal Event livestream on YouTube.com/PlayOverwatch or Twitch.tv/PlayOverwatch this Thursday, June 16, at 10:00 a.m. PDT.

Blizzard's upcoming hero-shooter "Overwatch 2" will support a PvE game mode in addition to the usual PvP, according to an ESPN ESports report citing a source at BlizzCon. The game will reportedly feature at least one new hero, several new hero talents, and at least one 4-player PvE story mission set in Rio de Janeiro. There's a new game mode called "Push," debuting with a new map based on Toronto. The PvE mission and the Push game mode will be available to play to attendees at the 2019 BlizzCon expo, which opens this Friday (November 1), in Anaheim CA. Blizzard is also expected to announce "Diablo 4" at the show.