NVIDIA GeForce NOW Adds Flight Controls as Cloud Gaming Expands

NVIDIA's cloud gaming service GeForce NOW just got a major hardware upgrade. Flight control support—one of the most requested features from the community—went live January 22, 2026, following its CES announcement earlier this month.

The feature launches with Thrustmaster T.Flight HOTAS One compatibility, letting players stream flight and space simulation games with full stick-and-throttle setups. NVIDIA says more peripherals are coming as they expand compatibility.

Why This Matters for NVIDIA

This isn't just about joysticks. It's about stickiness. GeForce NOW competes in a cloud gaming market where player retention depends on hardware flexibility. By supporting dedicated flight gear, NVIDIA's making a play for simulation enthusiasts who've traditionally needed expensive local rigs.

The timing aligns with NVIDIA's broader platform push. Earlier this month, the company announced GeForce NOW expansion to Linux and Amazon Fire TV, plus DLSS 4.5 enhancements. Each move extends the service's reach while showcasing NVIDIA's GPU capabilities remotely.

NVDA tokenized shares currently trade around $184, with the company's market cap sitting at $4.3 trillion as of January 21. Cloud gaming represents a smaller revenue stream compared to data center and AI chips, but it serves as a consumer-facing demonstration of NVIDIA's graphics technology.

New Content Pipeline

Four games hit the cloud this week:

• MIO: Memories in Orbit – Metroidvania available on Steam, Xbox, and Game Pass (January 20)
• Bladesong – Steam release (January 22)
• Rustler – Free on Epic Games Store starting January 22
• The Gold River Project – Steam launch January 23, GeForce RTX 5080-ready

Delta Force from Team Jade is also inbound, though NVIDIA hasn't specified a date. The extraction shooter will stream across low-powered laptops, Macs, and mobile devices—exactly the kind of hardware-agnostic accessibility that makes cloud gaming attractive.

The Bigger Picture

GeForce NOW operates on a tiered membership model. Since January 1, 2026, non-Founders members face a 100-hour monthly playtime cap. The service essentially rents out virtual machines with high-end NVIDIA GPUs, letting users play games they already own without local hardware requirements.

For investors watching NVIDIA's consumer segment, these incremental feature additions matter less than the overall platform growth trajectory. But for the simulation gaming community? Finally being able to use proper flight gear in the cloud removes one of the last major friction points keeping enthusiasts tethered to expensive desktop setups.

NVIDIA's running a giveaway through January 24 for Thrustmaster hardware and Ultimate memberships—a marketing push that suggests they're serious about converting flight sim players to cloud subscribers.