It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to tell that Nvidia’s latest graphics card promotion was designed to undermine AMD’s own “Never Settle” offer. AMD was prepared to retaliate, apparently, as it only took the red team a few hours to fire back at the legion of green.
Every purchase of the company’s top-tier Radeon R9 290 series graphics cards now comes with a free copy of Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth.
That includes the R9 290, R9 290X, and R9 295X2. Plus, this can be combined with the Never Settle promo. Hence, you can score not just one free game, but four.
If you’re curious about the deal’s value, consider this. Beyond Earth, by itself, is worth $50. Then, you have a choice of dozens of slightly older, slightly cheaper titles. Assuming you pick, say, Alien: Isolation, Dirt 3, and Sleeping Dogs, that’s an additional combined value of around $95. In this scenario, the promo’s total value is close to $150, so Nvidia’s promo, which offers $60 in savings, becomes a mere blip on AMD’s radar. Well played, red squadron.
Keep in mind that Radeon 290 cards are also more affordable than the GTX 970 and GTX 980, which are the latest desktop members of the GeForce family. Sure, the R9 290X is older and, as our 980 review shows, slower than its direct rival. But for roughly $250 less, the bang for buck factor is hard to argue with.
However, Civilization: Beyond Earth may lack the juice that Assassin’s Creed Unity has. The turn-based strategy game from Firaxis was nowhere nearly as anticipated as Ubisoft’s newest historical action-adventure title.
The former is also readily available in stores, whereas the latter is keeping its fans waiting. Still, impulse buy factor aside, we feel AMD’s promo may be a better deal in the long run.
They say revenge is a dish best served cold, but if you have score-settling tools at your disposal, why wait? We’re guessing that this was AMD’s thinking when it decided to up the bundling ante.
This promo can only be redeemed with Radeon R9 290 Series purchases that are made through participating retail and e-tail partners. This includes big names like Amazon, MicroCenter, Newegg, and TigerDirect.
The full terms and conditions are detailed here.
