Nvidia will host its first full LAN party in over a decade, and you’re invited

It’s been 13 years since Nvidia hosted its past LAN party, inviting hundreds of radical to physically haul their gaming PCs onto a decommissioned craft bearer and jack them successful for networked gaming bliss. Now, the GeForce LAN is yet coming backmost — and you’re theoretically invited, should you negociate to reserve 1 of the 400 disposable spaces right here connected December 16th astatine 6AM PT / 9AM ET.

The GeForce LAN 50 volition tally January 4th done January 6th, 2025 successful Las Vegas, Nevada, with outer events successful Berlin, Taipei, and Beijing, and it promises to beryllium a “online & in-person 50 hr gaming marathon” with contests, tournaments, raffles, and swag.

It’ll footwear disconnected 4:30PM PT connected January 4th, and you’ll request to supply a afloat refundable $125 deposit to motion up. Nvidia tells maine those 400 slots are for mundane gamers, and bash not number the influencers who whitethorn besides amusement up.

If you can’t oregon don’t privation to marque it, Nvidia says it’ll connection 1 tiny acceptable of rewards online — if you watercourse Diablo IV, The Elder Scrolls Online, Fallout 76, The Finals, or WoW from its GeForce Now unreality gaming work “continuously for 50 minutes,” there’ll beryllium immoderate benignant of in-game reward. Nvidia volition besides beryllium offering prizes successful a selling solemnisation it’s calling “GeForce Greats”.

The LAN enactment is happening close earlier Nvidia’s CES 2025 keynote successful Las Vegas, wherever we’re expecting the institution to denote the RTX 5090, RTX 5080, and perchance the RTX 5070 arsenic well, and the information that this is the “GeForce LAN 50” is astir apt a tease for those 50-series cards — the past LAN that Nvidia hosted was the “GeForce LAN 6,” not “GeForce LAN 49” oregon thing similar that.

Starting successful 2004, the GPU institution began to big large LAN parties astir each twelvemonth until it stopped successful 2011. Here’s 1 of my insignificant claims to nerd fame: I helped acceptable a Guinness World Record for the largest, longest LAN party astatine 1 successful 2008.

That Nvidia LAN wasn’t held connected an craft carrier, but alternatively the San Jose Convention Center, arsenic portion an lawsuit that Nvidia called “NVISION 08.” The institution ne'er held different NVISION, but it rebooted its lawsuit the precise adjacent year, astatine the precise aforesaid location, arsenic the GPU Technology Conference (GTC). There was a time Nvidia would sponsor third-party LANs arsenic well.

Apparently Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has a brushed spot for LANs, making a astonishment sojourn to a tiny one successful Vietnam past year. While gamers person mostly moved online for multiplayer games, the LAN enactment subculture has been getting a spot of nostalgic attraction arsenic of precocious — there’s even a java array publication now documenting the era.