AMD Gives Gamers Choice with Never Settle Forever Bundle

AMD may have scored a major victory when it secured its placement as the APU supplier for both the Xbox One and the PS4, but the firm has had a tough time when it comes to the high end PC market. The company’s formerly venerable line of Radeon GPUs has lost ground in recent years to high performance offerings from NVIDIA. In response, AMD late last year began to entice GPU shoppers with impressive game bundles. Dubbed the “Never Settle Bundle,” these promotions packaged several AAA titles with certain AMD GPUs, with the company hoping that consumers would trade a little bit of performance for, in some cases, several hundred dollars worth of games.

While these were great deals for some buyers, the primary problem was that the titles included in each bundle were predetermined. “Buy a Radeon 7850 and get these three specific games,” for example. But many GPU purchasers, especially on the high end, likely already owned several, if not all, of the included titles, making the offer far less appealing.

To address this concern, AMD has once again revamped its Never Settle strategy with the launch this week of the “Never Settle Forever” campaign. While the overall list of available games is still predetermined, this new campaign is novel in that it allows gamers to choose from this list up to three games, decreasing the probability that a new AMD GPU purchaser will be stuck with a second copy of a game they already own.

Never Settle Forever will be based on three tiers: Gold, Silver, and Bronze, offering three, two, and one free game, respectively. The tier a purchaser can choose from will be based on the GPU, with higher end GPUs granting purchasers access to higher tiers.

As it stands now, the bundle is broken down as follows:

Radeon GPU	Tier	Games
HD 7970 HD 7950	Gold (3 Games)	Tomb Raider Hitman: Absolution Devil May Cry Sleeping Dogs Far Cry 3 Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon Deus Ex: Human Revolution Dirt 3 Dirt Showdown Sniper Elite V2
HD 7800 Series	Silver (2 Games)	Hitman: Absolution Devil May Cry Sleeping Dogs Far Cry 3 Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon Deus Ex: Human Revolution Dirt 3 Dirt Showdown Sniper Elite V2
HD 7790 HD 7770	Bronze (1 Game)	Sleeping Dogs Far Cry 3 Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon Deus Ex: Human Revolution Dirt 3 Dirt Showdown Sniper Elite V2

Purchasers will be given a code when a qualifying GPU is purchased along with instructions on how to redeem it via AMD’s website. There are some caveats, however. Once a GPU is purchased, customers have until December 31, 2013 to register the code and choose their games. Also, if you have a Silver or Gold tier GPU, you must choose all of your games with a single transaction.

This doesn’t seem like such a bad policy until you notice the third provision: AMD will be rotating the list of games until the end of the promotion, adding new titles and removing others. This means that if you want to choose, for example, Far Cry 3 now, but aren’t interested in any of the other games on the list, you’ll have to wait for new games to be added later this year. However, when that refresh occurs, you may find that Far Cry 3 is no longer an option. These limitations are clearly a necessary concession by AMD to game publishers, but it’s unfortunate for consumer choice.

Still, if your game library is sparse, and you’re interested in what AMD is offering, the Never Settle Forever promotion is a fine deal that certainly beats the relatively weak “Free 2 Play” bundle offered by NVIDIA.

Gamers should also note that AMD’s flagship 7990 card is still eligible for the “Never Settle Reloaded” bundle, which provides eight free games, including Crysis 3 and Bioshock Infinite, two titles absent from the list in the “Forever” bundle. That impressive list of free games, combined with the card’s recent price drop from $1100 to $799, make it an attractive choice for gamers looking to the ultra-high-end segment of the GPU market.

The Never Settle Forever bundle is available now for US customers, with worldwide availability “coming soon.” Those interested in the promotion can check out AMD’s website for further information.