AMD's bundle is offering newer games, more games, and some love for low-end gamers
Published: 14th July 2022 | Source: Game Bundles | Author: Mark Campbell
Does Nvidia need to try harder with its game bundles?
In case you haven't noticed, graphics cards are now readily available at retailers. GPU pricing has plummeted, and demand from cryptocurrency miners has evaporated. Today, graphics card manufacturers need to encourage gamers to buy their products, resulting in lower prices and the re-introduction of game bundles.
On the AMD side, we have AMD's newest iteration of their "Raise The Game" bundle, which offers gamers up to three titles with high-end graphics cards and fewer games with their lower end products. On the Nvidia side, we have their " Face Your Demons " a bundle that is exclusive to Nvidia's high-end products and only includes two games (plus two pieces of DLC).
With their latest Raise The Game bundle, AMD's offering their customers newer games, with Sniper Elite 5 having launched this May while Saints Row, and Forespoken remain unreleased. In contrast, Nvidia's bundle includes DOOM Eternal, a game from March 2020, and Ghostwire: Tokyo, a more niche game from March this year. AMD's bundle is very forward looking, but Nvidia's mostly offers games that were heavily discounted during Steam's Summer Sale.
Only AMD has low for low-end GPU purchases
Nvidia's Face Your Demons bundle is only available to purchases of RTX 3080 or higher graphics cards. In contrast, even purchasers of AMD's sub-£150 RX 6400 can get a free game. Yes, AMD's lower-tier GPUs come with fewer free games, but everything above AMD's RX 6700 get access to the full bundle, and everything above the RX 6600 gets free pre-orders for two unreleased AAA games.
Right now, Nvidia's offering nothing to their lower-end customers, and that because they are currently focused on shifting their high-end GPU stock ahead of their RTX 40 series product launch.
Does Nvidia need a lower-end GPU game bundle?
In general, support for DLSS and strong ray tracing performance gives Nvidia's RTX 30 series graphics cards a clear advantage over their Radeon counterparts. That said, it is a shame to see Nvidia so blatantly focus exclusively on their high-end consumer base,
It is arguable that AMD are offering lower-tier game bundles with their graphics cards to make them more competitive with their Nvidia-based rivals. As it stands, DLSS and ray tracing a strong reasons to consider Nvidia GPUs over their AMD counterparts, and AMD's game bundle should only be seen as a good deal if you are interested in their bundled games. If not, most consumers would prefer a simple price decrease instead of a free game.
Do game bundles matter?
I don't know about you, but when a company says that their game bundle is worth £££, my immediate thought is that I would prefer that value as a discount. Yes, that isn't how things work (as AMD/Nvidia do not pay full price for bundled games etc), but my general opinion is that I often prefer lower prices than bundled games, especially if bundled games are not new AAA releases.
Nvidia's "Face Your Demons" bundle does not appeal to me. I already own DOOM Eternal and Ghostwire: Tokyo is simply not appealing to me. As it stands, I think that AMD has the stronger game bundle, both because of its bundled games and the fact that it applies to both high-end and low-end graphics cards from AMD's RX 6000 series product stack. If Nvidia wants to use bundles to shift its excess RTX 30 series stock, they will need a better game bundle.
Ultimately, the purpose of GPU game bundles is to help sell graphics card, both by giving something for manufacturers to market and by giving customers additional value in the form of "free" gaming content. If companies like AMD and Nvidia can sell more GPU stock, they have succeeded. If stock remains on store shelves, they need to either lower prices, or offer more add-ons (perhaps both).
You can join the discussion on the game bundle wars on the OC3D Forums .