Back in October, AMD unleashed a massive double broadside in their battle against NVIDIA for GPU supremacy. Aptly called Never Settle, this two-pronged approach consisted of an aggressive driver release which significantly boosted performance in a number of key gaming titles and the addition of free game bundles with new Radeon GPU purchases.
The Never Settle promotion worked wonders and certainly boosted AMD’s GPU sales which is understandable since they were offering up to $170 of free games with the purchase of certain cards. It also provoked an immediate reaction among enthusiasts who wanted to take advantage of their new purchases. Unfortunately, Never Settle gradually ran its course while the games being offered (Medal of Honor: Warfighter, Hitman Absolution, Sleeping Dogs and Far Cry 3) became a bit long in the tooth.
Only a few weeks ago we surmised that AMD could be busy cooking up another game promotion since many upcoming triple-A titles fall under their rapidly expanding Gaming Evolved umbrella. Well, that’s exactly what is happening. Never Settle is now being “reloaded” with an entirely new batch of games, some of which will come as a bit of a surprise. Once again though, it will only be available through select retailers around the world (Newegg, NCIX and a few others in North America while others have been pegged for international support) and it will begin in the coming days.
Unlike with the previous Never Settle bundle, this one includes titles which haven’t even been released yet, so get ready to cancel those preorders! The new Tomb Raider title which we covered at AMD’s ExtravaLANza and BioShock Infinite’s association with Gaming Evolved have already been discussed but they’re supplemented by a somewhat shocking addition: Crysis 3.
Long a title which has been under the auspices of NVIDIA’s The Way It’s Meant To Be Played program, Crytek seems to have switched sides so to speak. As a result, all new purchases of HD 7900-series cards within Europe, North America and Australia / New Zealand will receive two free games: Crysis 3 and BioShock Infinite. The HD 7800-series meanwhile will be paired up with a combination of BioShock Infinite and Tomb Raider.
Things differ somewhat in the Asian region. While Crysis 3 and BioShock Infinite will still be included with the higher end HD 7900-series, Tomb Raider has gone MIA from the HD 7800-series’ bundle. In its place, AMD will be including the new Devil May Cry game.
Not only do these offerings add up to $120 to the value of a new AMD Radeon graphics card but they’re all unreleased titles. Typically, bundles offer games which are already on the market but not this time. Tomb Raider will be released on March 5th (with several AMD-developed visual features), BioShock on March 26th, Devil May Cry on February 25th and Crysis 3 in just a few weeks.
One of the most important aspects of these titles is their compatibility with AMD-specific technologies. Supposedly, every one of them will be released with native support for Crossfire and Eyefinity alongside optimizations for the GCN architecture while Tomb Raider will also have HD3D features added for stereoscopic viewing.
AMD is sweetening the deal for buyers of HD7900-series Crossfire setups as well. Should you buy two HD 7970s or HD 7950s, get prepared for a virtual deluge of games with a total of six titles being available for download. Unfortunately, this offer isn’t being extended retroactively for anyone that adds a second card to an existing system equipped with a HD 7900-series product.
For those of you wondering, this deal also covers purchases of dual GPU cards like PowerColor’s Devil 13.
One last point AMD made was about an exclusive deal for anyone living in the UK that purchases ASUS’ ultra expensive ROG ARES II. They’ll receive a grand total of eight free games.
All in all, it looks like AMD is leading the way when it comes to adding value to their graphics card offerings. This should once again give the HD 7900-series a distinct advantage from a monetary perspective. With that being said, it would be shocking if NVIDIA didn’t respond in some way as well. Only time will tell but until then, get ready for a spring that’s filled with some great games.
The Never Settle promotion worked wonders and certainly boosted AMD’s GPU sales which is understandable since they were offering up to $170 of free games with the purchase of certain cards. It also provoked an immediate reaction among enthusiasts who wanted to take advantage of their new purchases. Unfortunately, Never Settle gradually ran its course while the games being offered (Medal of Honor: Warfighter, Hitman Absolution, Sleeping Dogs and Far Cry 3) became a bit long in the tooth.
Only a few weeks ago we surmised that AMD could be busy cooking up another game promotion since many upcoming triple-A titles fall under their rapidly expanding Gaming Evolved umbrella. Well, that’s exactly what is happening. Never Settle is now being “reloaded” with an entirely new batch of games, some of which will come as a bit of a surprise. Once again though, it will only be available through select retailers around the world (Newegg, NCIX and a few others in North America while others have been pegged for international support) and it will begin in the coming days.
Unlike with the previous Never Settle bundle, this one includes titles which haven’t even been released yet, so get ready to cancel those preorders! The new Tomb Raider title which we covered at AMD’s ExtravaLANza and BioShock Infinite’s association with Gaming Evolved have already been discussed but they’re supplemented by a somewhat shocking addition: Crysis 3.
Long a title which has been under the auspices of NVIDIA’s The Way It’s Meant To Be Played program, Crytek seems to have switched sides so to speak. As a result, all new purchases of HD 7900-series cards within Europe, North America and Australia / New Zealand will receive two free games: Crysis 3 and BioShock Infinite. The HD 7800-series meanwhile will be paired up with a combination of BioShock Infinite and Tomb Raider.
Things differ somewhat in the Asian region. While Crysis 3 and BioShock Infinite will still be included with the higher end HD 7900-series, Tomb Raider has gone MIA from the HD 7800-series’ bundle. In its place, AMD will be including the new Devil May Cry game.
Not only do these offerings add up to $120 to the value of a new AMD Radeon graphics card but they’re all unreleased titles. Typically, bundles offer games which are already on the market but not this time. Tomb Raider will be released on March 5th (with several AMD-developed visual features), BioShock on March 26th, Devil May Cry on February 25th and Crysis 3 in just a few weeks.
One of the most important aspects of these titles is their compatibility with AMD-specific technologies. Supposedly, every one of them will be released with native support for Crossfire and Eyefinity alongside optimizations for the GCN architecture while Tomb Raider will also have HD3D features added for stereoscopic viewing.
AMD is sweetening the deal for buyers of HD7900-series Crossfire setups as well. Should you buy two HD 7970s or HD 7950s, get prepared for a virtual deluge of games with a total of six titles being available for download. Unfortunately, this offer isn’t being extended retroactively for anyone that adds a second card to an existing system equipped with a HD 7900-series product.
For those of you wondering, this deal also covers purchases of dual GPU cards like PowerColor’s Devil 13.
One last point AMD made was about an exclusive deal for anyone living in the UK that purchases ASUS’ ultra expensive ROG ARES II. They’ll receive a grand total of eight free games.
All in all, it looks like AMD is leading the way when it comes to adding value to their graphics card offerings. This should once again give the HD 7900-series a distinct advantage from a monetary perspective. With that being said, it would be shocking if NVIDIA didn’t respond in some way as well. Only time will tell but until then, get ready for a spring that’s filled with some great games.
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