Giving away a bonus to your customers is a nice thing to do; watching them jump through hoops to get the bonus is less so. Many companies have realized that offering a mail in rebate is a great way to look like you are doing something for your customers while at the same time ensuring a significant percentage of those customers never actually claim said MIR. Strangely this practice has not impressed consumers.
NVIDIA started to embrace something similar towards the end of 2016 with GeForce Experience 3.0, requiring a mandatory login to get at beta drivers and more pertinently, giveaways. That login requirement includes all the game bundles, such as the one announced yesterday. Ars Technica reported something interesting this morning that anyone thinking of picking up one of the games bundles should be aware of; NVIDIA now intends to tie these game codes to hardware. Currently you will need to sign into GFE, verify your code and then allow GFE to verify you have a GTX 1070 or 1080 installed in your system, which strongly suggests you will need to install software. Ars speculates that this could one day be tied directly to a card via a hardwareID or serial number; making it impossible to give away.
The rational offered references an incident with Microsoft a few months back when "some Gears 4 Windows 10 keys were obtained illegitimately via our Nvidia promotion". This was thanks to a loophole created by Amazon's return policy. Of course, some of those so called illegitimate installations were caused by someone giving or even selling the game key which they obtained legally, because they had already purchased Gears 4. It is unclear if NVIDIA only pays for codes which are redeemed or if the money has already been invested; in the former it at least makes financial sense, if the latter then Bird Culture has an appropriate phrase.
Once again, everyone must be punished thanks to the overreaction caused by a few smegheads. Keep this in mind when you are shopping in the future.
"GFE then performs "a hardware verification step to ensure the coupon code is redeemed on the system with the qualifying GPU." It's not yet clear whether the codes will be tied to a specific serial number/hardware identifier, or whether they will be tied to an overall product line like a GTX 1070 or GTX 1080."
Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
- AMD Ryzen CPUs to support Windows 7 with drivers @ Guru of 3D
- 2.5 Million Xbox and PlayStation Gamers' Details Have Been Leaked From Piracy Forums @ Slashdot
- Microsoft details new Edge features coming in Windows 10 Creators Edition @ The Inquirer
- Adobe blames Brexit as users rage over Creative Cloud price hikes @ The Inquirer
- Apple weans itself off Intel with 'more ARM chips' for future Macs @ The Register
- Supermicro sockets it to Skylake rivals @ The Register
another DRM?
smh.
another DRM?
smh.
….. So when I upgrade my
….. So when I upgrade my video card I can no longer play this free game????
Damn good question, one would
Damn good question, one would have to assume you need the card to redeem the code on Steam/UPlay/Origin but once in your library you are good to go.
Yep, once redeemed you can
Yep, once redeemed you can play it on any PC (if the game’s original DRM allow you to of course).
One may just read the the FAQ to know, it just require less than 5 minutes 😉
oh i forgot – i assumed since
oh i forgot – i assumed since most “gifts” were codes nvidia received from the dev since i think they were all TWIMTP titles. so product codes for in house services rendered.
did allyn take his nap today?
This is idiotic. It’s just
This is idiotic. It’s just going to hurt sales in the long run. I know many many people who sell these codes with the intention of off-setting the cost of the card. Without that they will be less inclined to make the purchase to begin with or start looking at an AMD variant that will let them sell the code.
The problem is that there are
The problem is that there are people that create a bot that made order and cancel the order of the graphics card and keep the code or purchase and then return it keeping the code and then sell it. It’s been exploited as hell by ages.
And AMD does something similar too, require you to register and to download and run verification tool https://www.amd4u.com/amdgamepromo
AMD gives you a Key Code
AMD gives you a Key Code after the verification. It doesn’t tie you in Uplay or Steam and force you to redeem it.
You can still trade or sell that code.
Yeah this was a long time
Yeah this was a long time coming. I’m one of the hundreds of people that just sold their codes on ebay, usually at a higher cost than it would be to buy the game retail, just to offset the card’s cost. So, you’re welcome.
Dwayne Johnson – You’re Welcome (From “Moana”) https://youtu.be/79DijItQXMM
I don’t see the problem,
I don’t see the problem, aside from the cancelled credit cards. Can’t they just deactivate games bought on stolen cards? Wait, I know they can. This is a horrible “solution.”
And what idiot pays over retail for a game? Seriously, duh fuq?
The problem they were trying
The problem they were trying to face is people that purchase the card and then return it while keeping the game code to sell it, do this on 10 store and with a $50 game you just earned $500 for free
This isn’t the only problem.
This isn’t the only problem. The game creators are also getting pissed that keys for their brand new $59.99 game are being sold for $35 on EBay a few weeks after launch, even if they are legitimate codes. For the game dev, they want to get the payment from NVidia to ‘guarantee’ a certain amount of sales, but they know that most of their fans wont buy a GPU to get a CD key, so they want the people who would pay $60 for their game to get it straight from the publisher instead of EBay (it is an additional sale and at the full retail price).
They already got their money
They already got their money though, either from someone buying it at full price and reselling it or from NVIDIA (or AMD) to pair with a card. AMD/NVIDIA might not pay full retail for that code but the game publisher would have agreed to whatever price they actually paid.
They've already made their money, crying that they can't get two sales out of it because one person sold their game to another doesn't make sense. The guy who sold the game obviously already bought it or else never would, so there would not have been two sales to begin with.
This seems more like the MIR trick, in that AMD/NVIDIA would only have to pay for redeemed codes and get a rebate on the unclaimed ones. Then tying it to hardware would save AMD/NVIDIA money, though not so much the publisher who just lost a sale even it it might have been at a discounted price.
This is something AMD has
This is something AMD has done. It’s not tied to a specific video card. It only requires that you have the model GPU installed that the game was bundled with installed in your computer for the hardware check when you redeem the code. Example; if you give the code to someone else they must have a GTX 1070 video card in order to redeem the code that was bundled with a GTX 1070. This requirement is only for initial redemption of the code. After that you can have any video card installed to play it.
But how does it redeem then?
But how does it redeem then? Through GFE? DO you have to play it with GFE open? Does it then spit out a Steam code? If it does, I fail to see how it prevents the resale of the game.
Yes it would more than likely
Yes it would more than likely require GFE to redeem the code. I believe it does give you a Steam key after that. The hardware check is only to redeem the code. It doesn’t effect the actual playing of the game. Most people want to buy a coupon code that has not yet been scratched or redeemed. Harder to find someone to buy the actual key. Don’t ask me why.
Yes it requires a GFE linked
Yes it requires a GFE linked to your account on Steam, UPlay or where ever. Did a brief explanation yesterday … https://www.pcper.com/news/General-Tech/NVIDIA-Bundle-launches-today-Honor-or-Tom-Clancy%E2%80%99s-Ghost-Recon-Wildlands
You need GFE just to redeem
You need GFE just to redeem the code, then you are free to remove it from your PC
Five years later:
“Hey
Five years later:
“Hey remember that great game, ________, from 2017?”
“Yeah! Let’s see if it still works!”
“Sure, let me just go grab the disk…er…graphics card and plop it in a spare pcie slot”
This has nothing to do with
This has nothing to do with playing the game. It’s only to redeem the code. After that you can put an AMD card in if you want.
Ah, that’s good to hear.
Ah, that’s good to hear. Hopefully it never comes to that. I wouldn’t put it past Nvidia.
I’ve run dual GPU setups in
I’ve run dual GPU setups in my past 3 rigs. Last time I got two copies of MGSV. I gave one to my brother and another to my friend since I already owned the game. This is stupid. Very, very stupid.
So now I will have to install this hardware in their rig, install the game, and then put it in my own if I want to gift it. What a bunch of tools.
Haven’t you gotten the
Haven’t you gotten the message yet? NVidia doesn’t want anyone running SLI so this is a non-issue for them. This generation the xx6x doesn’t have sli, next year it will be the xx7x and the year after it will be reserved for titan parts haha
I think they were upset with people like me that used to buy a somewhat high end part and then when it struggled to run the games I wanted, I’d pick up another on ebay for cheap. With no SLI, they can shove new single gpus down people’s throats with more frequency.
I just wonder about any
I just wonder about any Nvidia attempts at disrupting any Vulkan/DX12 API and games/gaming engine managed explicit Multi-GPU adaptor features. Under Vulkan/DX12 the games/gaming engines are supposed to have control over ANY and All GPUs plugged into a PC/Laptop system! So it will be the Games/Gaming engines that will have the control of any GPU/GPUs with the driver model under DX12/Vulkan being of a minimal design that just follows what the Vulkan/DX12 APIs demand of the graphics drivers. The graphics drivers under DX12/Vulkan are supposed to allow for that closer to the metal fine grained GPU control so what will Nvidia do to hamper that DX12/Vulkan API control over its GPU/s!
Nvidia is doing its nefarious best at monetizing its customer base and using hardware/software means to lock-in users to Nvidia’s closed ecosystem.
if anything nvidia probably
if anything nvidia probably like people to go multi gpu because that’s mean more sales for them. so i don’t think they try to prevent any kind of multi gpu effort with vulkan or DX12. if nvidia really try to hamper them then you will not going to see “1060 SLI” working with Ashes. the one that hampering multi gpu support in games is no other than game developer themselves. just look how many new game engine that did not work well with multi gpu. if game developer really care and like multi gpu then they will develop their game engine in a way that will work well with multi gpu. that’s why some people said DX12/Vulkan probably will be the final nail for multi gpu coffin. because right now you’re handing the decision to support the feature in the hands that not interested to implement them (not all but most). if anything nvidia just go with the flow.
The point is that
The point is that Vulkan/D3D12 multi-GPU is not SLI. The fact that SLI is no more available on low/mid range cards doesn’t mean multi GPU is not possible.
It sounds like when you
It sounds like when you redeem the code, before it ties to your uplay/steam account, it just verifies that you actually own the graphics card for what the promotion is fore. If you upgrade your card or change your hardware after that it will still work since it will be tied to your account after it verifies the hardware initially.
So no free games for us Titan
So no free games for us Titan XP owners? figures
titan series never get free
titan series never get free games. reason? for titan XP most likely because of that unlock INT 8 performance.
Looking at my avatar I have
Looking at my avatar I have to say that I am enjoying what Nvidia fans have to bare this last year. Expensive Founders Edition cards, problematic drivers one after the other, AMD cards winning in newer titles, even DX11 ones, and now this.
But let’s be fair here to Nvidia and game developers. It’s not their fault. The problem here was those morons getting a card only for the game code. Then selling the game code, while returning the graphics card back to the shop demanding full refund.
I am guessing AMD will follow.
they already one step ahead
they already one step ahead of nvidia in this regard.
Yep, the problem was people
Yep, the problem was people that buy the card and return it without the code with the purpose of reselling it, doing that several times.
AMD was actually the first to do that, you are forced to create an account and download and run a special “verification tool”
https://www.amd4u.com/amdgamepromo
It’s fascinating that almost no one noticed or complained and that no a single news has been made about that, on any website.
The difference being, Nvidia
The difference being, Nvidia ties GeForce Experience account to Uplay or Steam. Where as AMD just verifies you have the hardware and give you a Key Code.
With AMD you can still trade that key code. With Nvidia the only option you have is give your Uplay or Steam info out.
Vega time folks…….time to
Vega time folks…….time to give two fingers to nvidia
Driver level DRM by nvidia,
Driver level DRM by nvidia, nice. You gotta pay to play.
And that’s a big FU to SLI users.
OOORR, you could, as I’ve
OOORR, you could, as I’ve said in another forum, buy the video card for the CARD. Don’t even look at the “free” crap it come with. I don’t. The only time I’ve ever cared about a free game is when it was an actual disc packaged in with the card. Digital download with draconian DRM nonsense you say? No Thank You! Pass..