Nvidia aims latest hardware bundles at free-to-play gamers

Nvidia has set its sights on the free-to-play market by unveiling its latest hardware bundles, which offer PC gamers in-game currency for some of the market’s biggest cost-free titles.
The GPU manufacturer announced the new bundles as part of its ‘Gear up, Game on’ promotion, which incentivises its high-end graphics cards with the latest games titles.
Within the new deals, Nvidia is offering up to £100 worth of in-game credit for some of the biggest free-to-play titles, including World of Tanks, Planetside 2 and Hawken to gamers picking up a GPU from the firm’s GTX range. Buyers of the GTX 650 range can expect to receive £50 of currency to use within the selected titles, whilst gamers opting for the GTX660 range and above will receive the full £100.
Matt Wright, consumer sales manager for Nvidia, cites the move into the free-to-play market as a way of meeting the needs of today’s PC gaming community: “We are seeing more and more high profile games launch with a free-to-play business model, causing an explosion on the PC with over 250 million gamers now playing over 14 billion hours of F2P titles on the PC each year. It’s big business and a big market that we want to show continuous support to,” said Wright.
“According to a Steam Hardware Survey, over 36 million gamers don’t meet the recommended specs, meaning they’re missing out on the very best experience in their favourite games. So it makes sense to encourage our etail partners to tap into this community.”
Nvidia began its ‘Gear up, Game on’ promotion last year as a way of boosting its hardware sales, whilst providing gamers with the required kit to play the newest games releases.
Previously, the firm had offered a selection of the year’s blockbuster titles such as Borderlands 2, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 and Assassins Creed III as part of the programme. But with free-to-play titles taking over as the most played games amongst PC gamers, Nvidia has adjusted the promotion in order to better reflect the community.
Similarly, the channel’s retailers and resellers have celebrated the bundle offering as boosting the sales of its hardware products.
Duncan Rutherford, product manager at Dabs.com, said: “Initiatives such as bundles is a growing trend in the gaming market and it works because we provide added value to our customers, which is always a positive when you’re working in a competitive and crowded market.
“Bundling games with hardware gives us the chance to also promote items around the graphics cards, such as monitors and peripherals, and sell it as a solution to get a great overall gaming experience for the customer.”

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