Grab The Witcher 3 and Batman for free with select Nvidia GTX cards

By Dave LeClair May 5, 2015

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

Every so often NVIDIA offers buyers free games with the purchase of select graphic cards, and right now the company is offering some huge releases with the purchase of select GTX models, as announced on its blog. New purchasers can get a free copy of two of the more anticipated games in the form of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Batman: Arkham Knight when they release.

Obviously, neither of these games are available yet, so NVIDIA is offering download codes for when they do. The Witcher 3 comes out first, currently scheduled for a May 19th release date. Batman: Arkham Knight is scheduled to hit stores on June 23.

As for the cards that qualify, it’s mostly those on the higher end of NVIDIA’s line. The GeForce GTX 980 and GTX 970 are the two models that will get download codes for both games, while the GeForce GTX 960, GTX 980M, and GTX 970M (both mobile cards) will only get free copies of The Witcher 3 with their eligible purchase.

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Amazon has a page set up specifically for cards that qualify for this deal. Cards eligible to receive both games start at just over $300. For those planning up picking up a 9-series GTX card anyway, this is a definitely a good time.

The Witcher 3 is a game that developer CD Projekt Red is promising will have graphics that push modern cards, so if you go out and spend a few hundred dollars on a brand new, high-end card, it’ll be nice to have a game that can push it right away. Plus, all preview reports indicate that The Witcher 3 will be a solid game.

Batman: Arkham Knight is also likely to push cards and look great on high-end PCs with high-end physics.

NVIDIA didn’t provide a time frame for the promotion, only citing that it is available for a limited time or while supplies last.

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Dave LeClair has been writing about tech and gaming since 2007. He's covered events, hosted podcasts, created videos, and…

Gaming

The Witcher reveal repeats Cyberpunk 2077’s biggest mistake

A player points a gun at a cyborg in Cyberpunk 2077's reveal trailer.

On March 21, CD Projekt Red confirmed a new The Witcher game while revealing a new Unreal Engine 5 partnership with Epic Games. Shortly after that announcement, CD Projekt Red's Global PR Director Radek Grabowski had to clarify some crucial details about this new game and the Epic Games partnership in a tweet:
https://twitter.com/gamebowski/status/1506022957591797760
While this tweet clarifies the biggest misconceptions about CD Projekt Red's The Witcher announcement, it also highlights that the developer announced this game way too early and vaguely. CD Projekt Red is already losing control of some of the discourse around the game and risks repeating one of the biggest mistakes of Cyberpunk 2077's development and marketing: Overpromising.
Cyberpunk 2077's big mistake
CD Projekt Red announced Cyberpunk 2077 in May 2012 at a press conference. At the time, the developer promised features like a "gripping non-linear story filled with life and detail" and a variety of character classes, weapons, upgrades, implants, and more to choose from. It said the game would "set [a] new standard in the futuristic RPG genre with an exceptional gaming experience."
Cyberpunk 2077 would not release until December 2020, over eight years later. But in the meantime, CD Projekt Red continued to tease the title with trailers and interviews, highlighting the game's ambitious scope and vision. CD Projekt Red developers hyped up how the main story and sidequests intertwined, how the game would feature multiplayer, how cops would be very reactive, and more. Although the game looked and sounded very impressive prior to its release, many of these features and promises were either missing or half-baked in their implementation into Cyberpunk 2077.
Cyberpunk 2077 Teaser Trailer
For eight years, an RPG that was supposed to change the genre forever was promised, but in the end, all we got was a fairly standard open-world RPG with a bevy of technical problems at release. The massive backlash happened because people were so excited for Cyberpunk 2077, partly because CD Projekt Red hyped up all of these ambitious features over eight years.
The reality is that game development is an arduous journey that doesn't always go according to plan. Designs change, features are cut, and sometimes the finished product just doesn't come together. CD Projekt Red probably never meant to lie to its fans, but priorities and development timelines shifted and what the developer ultimately delivered with Cyberpunk 2077 wasn't up to snuff.
As CD Projekt Red made the mistake of announcing Cyberpunk 2077 too early and overpromising, I thought the studio would what to share more details on its next game until it was close to release. That was not the case.
Initial Confirmation
CD Projekt Red was not willing to share a development time frame or release window as part of The Witcher announcement, so it's likely that this game is still several years away. Although the developer didn't reveal many details at this time, announcing the next The Witcher game so early gives s the Polish studio plenty of time to do so. For example, the game's director is already promising that there will be no crunch during the development of this game, something people may hold him accountable for as stories about the game's development emerge. CD Projekt Red must be cautious about what it shares about this new game before launch if it doesn't want another PR disaster, and it already seems to be getting a bit out of hand.
Grabowski's tweet indicates that there are already some misconceptions about the game. That will likely exponentially worsen as CD Projekt Red continues to tease this title in job listings, interviews, and trailers. It's a dangerous approach, so why did the developer make this "initial confirmation" happen so early? There are several reasons why this could be the case. First off, most of this announcement was focused on CD Projekt Red's partnership with Epic Games and the use of Unreal Engine 5, and the developer wanted to confirm the first game that will be part of this partnership to make it more exciting for fans.

Meanwhile, CD Projekt Red is still recovering from the backlash toward Cyberpunk 2077's rocky launch. Announcing a follow-up title to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt now not only restores a little bit of goodwill with fans and investors but will also attract some Unreal Engine-experienced developers who might be nervous to come to CD Projekt Red following Cyberpunk 2077. 2022 has been a year of anticlimatic and purposefully vague game announcements. CD Projekt Red's The Witcher announcement is simply the latest one to be part of this trend, but it's also one of the most worrying because this developer has made this mistake before.
While CD Projekt Red felt pressured to confirm this game early, they need to be very careful if they don't want to repeat the mistakes of Cyberpunk 2077. The best course of action for CD Projekt Red to take now is to stay completely silent until it has a clear idea of what the finished game will entail. If that isn't the case, this could all be building to disappointment in the year 2030.

Gaming

Cyberpunk 2077, The Witcher 3 next-gen upgrades still on track for this year

Holding a gun to an enemy in Cyberpunk 2077

With just three months left in 2021, developer CD Projekt Red has some big plans to cap off what has been a difficult year for the company. In its latest financial report, the company revealed that it's still planning on releasing two games this year, both next-gen updates. According to the report, the previously announced next-gen versions of The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt and Cyberpunk 2077 are still on track to arrive in "late 2021."

Details on what players can expect from the new versions of both Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt are sparse. The financial report itself makes no mention of what will be included in the next-gen version of Cyberpunk 2077. The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt's next-gen release on the other hand will come with all of the game's expansions and "visual upgrades," along with "extra items inspired by the Netflix series."

Gaming

Cyberpunk 2077, The Witch 3 source code stolen in CD Projekt Red cyberattack

Cyberpunk-2077 Judy

CD Projekt Red is the victim of a cyberattack that resulted in hackers stealing the source code of both Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3. The Polish studio believes no personal data was stolen during the attack.

The developer shared a statement about the attack on Twitter and shared the ransom note it received. Alongside source code, the hackers claim they stole documents pertaining to HR, investor relations, and more. The note threatens to sell the information or leak it to the press if CD Projekt Red does not reach an agreement with the hackers within 48 hours.