Never Settle. When taken at face value, it seems like a clever marketing slogan, vaguely referring to AMD’s determination to not go quietly into the night despite their graphics cards still using an architecture which is nearly two years old. To keep gamers’ attention firmly focused on their products, AMD has leveraged the Never Settle moniker into an incredibly successful program which bundles games with mid and high end AMD GPUs. That program is now being modified in an interesting way: by giving buyers a choice which they lacked before.
In order to understand where AMD is going with this, let’s delve into Gaming Evolved for a moment. AMD’s developer relation program used to be something no one really paid attention to. It was an afterthought. The reason behind this was quite simple: NVIDIA’s competing The Way It’s Meant to Be Played dominated, routinely reeling in triple-A titles like Far Cry, Crysis, Batman Arkham Asylum and countless others. That all changed as AMD began an intensive self-reeducation about the intrinsic benefits of robust partnerships. The outcome was Gaming Evolved, an initiative that has quickly put Radeon cards and their drivers in a leading position within the development community.
Much like NVIDIA did with TWIMTBP, AMD has leveraged their newly acquired position to offer Gaming Evolved titles to anyone who buys their graphics cards. It all started with Never Settle where up to three free games were offered and included the likes of Hitman Absolution, Far Cry 3 and Sleeping Dogs. None of these may sound particularly interesting now but nearly a year ago, they were some of the most hotly anticipated games around.
As with all good things, Never Settle eventually drew to a close but was quickly “Reloaded” with new games. Crysis 3, Bioshock Infinite and Tomb Raider were all rolled into the program, once again offering buyers of Radeon cards some phenomenal value.
Now, as AMD begins initial preparations for the launch of a new (still rumored) architecture, they’re rolling out yet another evolution of Never Settle. Called Never Settle Forever, it takes game bundles in a whole new direction, one that we’re extremely excited about.
Game bundles are typically take it or leave it affairs, giving a gamer one or more titles that they may or may not want. Since they have always included a set of predetermined games, these initiatives were appealing to anyone who didn’t own the titles being offered but when it came to more popular releases, they were already in the collections of most enthusiasts. Because of this, the perceived value of a game bundle could vary wildly from one person to the next.
Never Settle Forever fundamentally changes the playing field by breaking the bundles down into three categories: Bronze, Silver and Gold. Used for the HD 7700, 7800 and 7900 series respectively, each tier offers gamers a CHOICE of games chosen from a predetermined list. Yes, that’s right, if you buy a HD 7000-series card, you get to choose which game you receive. Brilliant stuff.
In a world of digital downloads, giving their consumers choice is a no-brainer for AMD but there are some limits as well. Naturally, you can’t pick any old game; it has to be a Gaming Evolved title and be part of the list above.
The lowest Bronze tier gets access to a number of games, the newest of which is Far Cry Blood Dragon while Silver expands things to include Hitman Absolution and the newest addition to the Devil May Cry franchise. Finally, Gold throws in Tomb Raider for good measure. Notable by their absence are Bioshock Infinite and Crysis 3.
The fun doesn’t stop there either. AMD will be launching a new site called Radeon rewards, a hub where the redemption takes place, titles are selected and download codes are processed. This is a perfect solution to an age-old complaint that actually getting free games from these programs typically led down a needlessly complicated road.
As a final “wait there’s more!” encore, the Gaming Evolved Forever “credits” don’t need to be redeemed right away and can be used for future titles instead. Their expiry date is December 31st 2013 but supposedly AMD will be adding some amazing games to their lineup before Christmas so you may want to hold on until then.
We’ve been vocal about our belief that AMD’s previous bundles didn’t add a lot of value for most serious gamers but with Gaming Evolved Forever, an important step has been taken towards making this initiative that much more appealing. This is some exciting, innovative stuff which will be certain to put loads of pressure on NVIDIA.
In order to understand where AMD is going with this, let’s delve into Gaming Evolved for a moment. AMD’s developer relation program used to be something no one really paid attention to. It was an afterthought. The reason behind this was quite simple: NVIDIA’s competing The Way It’s Meant to Be Played dominated, routinely reeling in triple-A titles like Far Cry, Crysis, Batman Arkham Asylum and countless others. That all changed as AMD began an intensive self-reeducation about the intrinsic benefits of robust partnerships. The outcome was Gaming Evolved, an initiative that has quickly put Radeon cards and their drivers in a leading position within the development community.
Much like NVIDIA did with TWIMTBP, AMD has leveraged their newly acquired position to offer Gaming Evolved titles to anyone who buys their graphics cards. It all started with Never Settle where up to three free games were offered and included the likes of Hitman Absolution, Far Cry 3 and Sleeping Dogs. None of these may sound particularly interesting now but nearly a year ago, they were some of the most hotly anticipated games around.
As with all good things, Never Settle eventually drew to a close but was quickly “Reloaded” with new games. Crysis 3, Bioshock Infinite and Tomb Raider were all rolled into the program, once again offering buyers of Radeon cards some phenomenal value.
Now, as AMD begins initial preparations for the launch of a new (still rumored) architecture, they’re rolling out yet another evolution of Never Settle. Called Never Settle Forever, it takes game bundles in a whole new direction, one that we’re extremely excited about.
Game bundles are typically take it or leave it affairs, giving a gamer one or more titles that they may or may not want. Since they have always included a set of predetermined games, these initiatives were appealing to anyone who didn’t own the titles being offered but when it came to more popular releases, they were already in the collections of most enthusiasts. Because of this, the perceived value of a game bundle could vary wildly from one person to the next.
Never Settle Forever fundamentally changes the playing field by breaking the bundles down into three categories: Bronze, Silver and Gold. Used for the HD 7700, 7800 and 7900 series respectively, each tier offers gamers a CHOICE of games chosen from a predetermined list. Yes, that’s right, if you buy a HD 7000-series card, you get to choose which game you receive. Brilliant stuff.
In a world of digital downloads, giving their consumers choice is a no-brainer for AMD but there are some limits as well. Naturally, you can’t pick any old game; it has to be a Gaming Evolved title and be part of the list above.
The lowest Bronze tier gets access to a number of games, the newest of which is Far Cry Blood Dragon while Silver expands things to include Hitman Absolution and the newest addition to the Devil May Cry franchise. Finally, Gold throws in Tomb Raider for good measure. Notable by their absence are Bioshock Infinite and Crysis 3.
As a final “wait there’s more!” encore, the Gaming Evolved Forever “credits” don’t need to be redeemed right away and can be used for future titles instead. Their expiry date is December 31st 2013 but supposedly AMD will be adding some amazing games to their lineup before Christmas so you may want to hold on until then.
We’ve been vocal about our belief that AMD’s previous bundles didn’t add a lot of value for most serious gamers but with Gaming Evolved Forever, an important step has been taken towards making this initiative that much more appealing. This is some exciting, innovative stuff which will be certain to put loads of pressure on NVIDIA.
