Nvidia Stops Promotional Game Resales by Tying Codes to Hardware

Megalith

Megalith

24-bit/48kHz
Staff member
Joined
Aug 20, 2006
Messages
13,000
Couldn’t care less about the game your GeForce card was bundled with? Want to sell it? Too bad, says Nvidia. In what seems like a clever way to encourage more gamers to use GeForce Experience, future game codes will have to go through that very app, as hardware verification will be required to redeem bundled software. I can’t resist trying out free games in my immediate possession, so this doesn’t really have an effect on me, but this kind of thing is probably a blow to at least some of you who frequent places like our FS/T section.

Since…promotional game codes were not tied to a specific account, many users took to either gifting spare keys to friends or selling them on eBay in order to offset the cost of the graphics card purchase. Now, users have to redeem codes via the GeForce Experience (GFE) app, which is directly linked to third-party services like Steam and Uplay. Users must also ensure that the requisite graphics card is "installed before redemption." 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.


Update: Nvidia has confirmed that while GFE checks to ensure a user has installed a qualifying graphics card like a GTX 1070 or GTX 1080, the game itself is not permanently linked to the hardware. GFE's hardware check is based only on the wider product range, and not on a specific serial number.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Well that's just dumb. I usually give the keys to friends..
 
NickJames said:
Well that's just dumb. I usually give the keys to friends..
Click to expand...

There's another thread in the GPU section where I posed this, but really... I think it's just the way it had to be. These games were showing up second hand for $25-$30 during the release week. That had to have had an impact on the launch-window sales that the bean counters put so much weight on. Nvidia was probably having trouble securing titles to bundle with their GPUs under the current system. If the choice is kill the second hand market or stop bundling games all together... the choice seems obvious to me.
 
Unfortunate but understandable. I can't imagine that publishers have been terribly happy with thousands of these keys ending up on sites like Ebay for super cheap prices, this change was inevitable.
 
Oh come the fuck on this going to far now. The publisher shouldn't care too much I don't think they get a lot of money up front from Nvidia. The people that buy this cheap keys probably just wouldn't be buying the game at full price. They would wait til it goes on sale.
 
Last edited:
WTG Nvidia, this is a stupid stupid move. :blackeye:

srcstc.gif
 
lilbabycat said:
Geforce Experience (since 3.0) is Cancer.
Click to expand...
As soon as they tie something to registration you know it's not about your best interests I outright refuse to install gfe anymore. And if they go trough with tying driver updates to it as they teased then backtracked previously I'll refuse to buy nvidia video cards period. There are some things you can'T get away with even if you have the competitive edge.
 
I dont know how the game publisher gets paid, but I would assume that they would get paid per copy, regardless if the owner sells the key.

Also, what happens to the game if you change your GPU?

Lastly, this is one more reason why we need to stop idolizing Nvidia blindly.

They are not consumer's friendly and now that they almost have a monopoly, are locking down the hatches.

I really hope Vega is at least as good as a 1070, so I can dump my 970.

aliaskary77 said:
i have GFE installed with the 970, dont see what the big deal is (maybe i am missing something), but for this move, my AMD stock thanks you. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

My two issues with it, forced log in and gratis telemetry included.
 
There is much less money for the publisher in game bundles than regular sale. And that's why.

Even with a 370$ 1070 you get 60+60$ in game bundle.
 
-Strelok- said:
It's a game that is included for free for the purchase of a specific GPU, I really don't get why everyone is so outraged. I mean if someone is going to boycott Nvidia because they have to redeem a free game and can't sell it...sheesh
Click to expand...

^^ This.

thesmokingman said:
I already paid for the damn card! WTF?
Click to expand...

Yep :(

I wouldn't mind a copy of For Honor for free :p
 
grtitan said:
I dont know how the game publisher gets paid, but I would assume that they would get paid per copy, regardless if the owner sells the key.

Also, what happens to the game if you change your GPU?

Lastly, this is one more reason why we need to stop idolizing Nvidia blindly.

They are not consumer's friendly and now that they almost have a monopoly, are locking down the hatches.

I really hope Vega is at least as good as a 1070, so I can dump my 970.



My two issues with it, forced log in and gratis telemetry included.
Click to expand...

It sounds like the keys are activated on Steam, Uplay, etc once they're redeemed so if you change hardware you'd still keep the game. It's just you have to have the hardware and GFE installed before you are allowed to redeem the key.

I'd assume Nvidia pays X amount for Y amount of keys, probably much less than what the publisher would get per copy on Steam or another authorized reseller. A person buying these keys (which, by the way, are always marked as "Not for Resell") is giving the publisher $0. If they had bought the game for the same price down the line off of an authorized source it would have given the publishers $25-$30, or whatever, minus around 20%. These keys are done as an added bonus for buying hardware and were always intended to be used only by the person buying the hardware. That person that bought the key second hand off of Ebay or whatever could have potentially been a customer that would have bought the game from an official source either at launch or sometime down the road, giving the publisher money and not the person that bought the hardware.
 
Help us AMD, you're our only hope.

I've firewalled GFE so I can use its 2.x ShadowPlay without the stupid BS that comes with 3.x.

This really shows what happens when someone gets too comfy at the top.
 
vegeta535 said:
Oh come the fuck on this going to far now. The publisher shouldn't care too much I don't think they get a lot of money up front from Nvidia. The people that buy this cheap keys probably just wouldn't be buying the game at full price. They would wait til it goes on sale.
Click to expand...

I disagree. I've bought plenty of these codes for games that I would have otherwise purchased directly. Also, even for the wait for a sale crowd, your logic doesn't hold up. If Nvidia buys a copy of a game, and then I buy it second hand, they only get the one "sale". If I can't buy second hand and instead wait for a sale, they still got paid for the bundle copy I couldn't buy, plus the sale copy I buy 6 months later. No matter how you slice it, the publisher makes more money if I cannot buy the game second hand.

grtitan said:
I dont know how the game publisher gets paid, but I would assume that they would get paid per copy, regardless if the owner sells the key.
Click to expand...

See above. It's not about getting paid for the key. It's about not getting paid a second time for whomever buys that key.

grtitan said:
Also, what happens to the game if you change your GPU?
Click to expand...

I'd assume that once redeemed, the game is somehow tied to your GFE account, not the actual video card.

A better question, how are these games launched? I assume this goes beyond GFE distributing a key, or else you could just sell that after redeeming. Does that mean we won't see any more Steamworks games from Nvidia? Will GFE now be your game launcher?


vegeta535 said:
They are not consumer's friendly and now that they almost have a monopoly, are locking down the hatches.
Click to expand...

You might be right... but I still think this was brought upon by publisher demand, not Nvidia's desire to push GFE on us.
 
This whole the company doesn't get the money 2nd hand sale bullshit needs to stop. The coupon has already been subsidized. No one gets to double dip. It's the same fundamental for any used product, next what we can't sell anything we've already paid for or subsidized?
 
grtitan said:
I dont know how the game publisher gets paid, but I would assume that they would get paid per copy, regardless if the owner sells the key.

Also, what happens to the game if you change your GPU?

Lastly, this is one more reason why we need to stop idolizing Nvidia blindly.

They are not consumer's friendly and now that they almost have a monopoly, are locking down the hatches.

I really hope Vega is at least as good as a 1070, so I can dump my 970.



My two issues with it, forced log in and gratis telemetry included.
Click to expand...
You can use Autoruns so disable all the telemetry stuff, the thing is every time you update your drivers it gets re-enabled.
 
-Strelok- said:
It's a game that is included for free for the purchase of a specific GPU, I really don't get why everyone is so outraged. I mean if someone is going to boycott Nvidia because they have to redeem a free game and can't sell it...sheesh
Click to expand...
That's not that point. If there isn't outrage for this they'll get bolder and then do something even more anti-consumer.

Nvidia has a lock on the market and they know it, that's why they're doing this shit. If I MUST have an account to get a driver that'll probably be the last straw for me and Nvidia. I don't care that GFE mandates an account, because at this point its optional, but if its mandatory, fuck them.

Why does everyone want a fucking app for bullshit?
 
"a hardware verification step to ensure the coupon code is redeemed on the system with the qualifying GPU."

that's ridiculous...Nvidia is killing the resale market on these codes...there has to be a way around it right or Nvidia is just trying to scare people
 
And in other news, if you want to avoid the horror that GFE currently is, you will get no promotional games.
 
OEM said:
That's not that point. If there isn't outrage for this they'll get bolder and then do something even more anti-consumer.

Nvidia has a lock on the market and they know it, that's why they're doing this shit. If I MUST have an account to get a driver that'll probably be the last straw for me and Nvidia. I don't care that GFE mandates an account, because at this point its optional, but if its mandatory, fuck them.

Why does everyone want a fucking app for bullshit?
Click to expand...

I dont think Nvidia cares in any way what you do with a free game or games. But the publisher do. If you think NVidia is doing this for the lulz you couldn't be more wrong. And I wouldn't be surprised to see AMD following suit. Because they are forced to do so by publishers.
 
When will companies learn that the best way to piss off their customers is to take away their control over the products they buy and dictate to them how and when to use them?

Nvidia is terrible in this regard. Whether it is their closed standard G-Sync locking customers in to a GPU if they want the fancy features of their monitor, or Game-Works attempting to force consumers to buy their GPU's or graphical features of games will be locked out, or their trying to control how we use their GPU's by blocking us from passing through Nvidia GPU's to VM's...

It's just one thing after another.

Hardware enthusiasts like cool tinkering, modifying, trying new things in new ways, and in th elast 5-10 years Nvidia has done nothing but try to get in the way of this and control the end users experience. Nvidia is not the hardware enthusiasts friend.
 
Really too bad.
Being able to even get 5 or 10 dollars for a game I already own or something I didn't want anyway is a setback, no doubt.

I have been the benefactor both ways, and I like the idea of getting a game I might not buy at full price for 10 bucks or so. If it sucks, no great loss.

I do understand the motivation though. But come on NVidia......your market is a subset or community that really functions on this sort of mindset, you should nurture that not stifle it.
Hell we pay way big money for your stuff. A perk once in a while is a good thing for us and you......now we have to put up with the evil GFE, which I will not load into my system.....I guess I'm a minority now.....
 
I don't get it. The keys are "sold" by Nvidia and are only being redeemed once. So what if Joe schmo wants to make $30? both the publisher and Nvidia already got their money.
 
scojer said:
I don't get it. The keys are "sold" by Nvidia and are only being redeemed once. So what if Joe schmo wants to make $30? both the publisher and Nvidia already got their money.
Click to expand...

Nope. The assumption is a lot of those getting the free games wouldn't have gotten it else. When people start selling the games it becomes a loss and confirms the assumption. Then you got a lost sale for 60$ and that's why publishers are unhappy.
 
scojer said:
I don't get it. The keys are "sold" by Nvidia and are only being redeemed once. So what if Joe schmo wants to make $30? both the publisher and Nvidia already got their money.
Click to expand...

These are usually brand new, $60 games. What do you think happens when the market is flooded with $20 keys? Nobody will buy it for $60 anymore.
 
Shintai said:
Nope. The assumption is a lot of those getting the free games wouldn't have gotten it else. When people start selling the games it becomes a loss and confirms the assumption. Then you got a lost sale for 60$ and that's why publishers are unhappy.
Click to expand...

Yeah just like all piracy is a lost sale.

Bundled code is already paid for. If someone doesn't want or already owns it they can sell it or gift it. The buyer is not suddenly a lost sale.

Imagine these codes as Christmas gifts instead, if someone got you a game as a present is it suddenly a lost sale? No. That's not how fucking logic works unless you're a bean counter for the publisher.
 
Nolan7689 said:
Yeah just like all piracy is a lost sale.

Bundled code is already paid for. If someone doesn't want or already owns it they can sell it or gift it. The buyer is not suddenly a lost sale.

Imagine these codes as Christmas gifts instead, if someone got you a game as a present is it suddenly a lost sale? No. That's not how fucking logic works unless you're a bean counter for the publisher.
Click to expand...

Do you really think Nvidia paid 120$ for the bundles on the 370$ GTX1070 and up cards? They could just as well sell GTX1070 cards for 250$ then.
 
-Strelok- said:
It's a game that is included for free for the purchase of a specific GPU, I really don't get why everyone is so outraged. I mean if someone is going to boycott Nvidia because they have to redeem a free game and can't sell it...sheesh
Click to expand...

Because generation entitled.

This is long overdue though, the graymarket created by people reselling their GeForce keys was devaluing games.
 
-Strelok- said:
It's a game that is included for free for the purchase of a specific GPU, I really don't get why everyone is so outraged. I mean if someone is going to boycott Nvidia because they have to redeem a free game and can't sell it...sheesh
Click to expand...

The game might be free to you, but for what I see, the publisher is also paid for.

Put it like this, instead of being a steam key, you received a physical copy of the game (remember those?) and you decided to sell that.

Guess what? it is perfectly legal for you to sell it.

But Nvidia keep doing these anti-consumer crap over and over and is siding with the publishers by blocking you from selling what is already yours.

DPI said:
Because generation entitled.

This is long overdue though, the graymarket created by people reselling their GeForce keys was devaluing games.
Click to expand...

I guess that back in the cartridge days you never bought a used game?

This is the same thing, the difference that we no longer have a physical copy of the game.

Why people insist in protecting companies instead of fellow human beings? I dont get that one.
 
I think where it goes wrong is when people think Nvidia paid the publisher the same as you do as a standalone purchase. They certainly dont. It also makes no sense, because you could just discount the cards instead then. I doubt Nvidia pays more than 20$ for the 120$ bundle.

Second time people goes wrong is when they think its some idea Nvidia got and not the publishers. Its not Nvidia losing money, its the publishers.
 
Shintai said:
I think where it goes wrong is when people think Nvidia paid the publisher the same as you do as a standalone purchase.

Second time people goes wrong is when they think its some idea Nvidia got.
Click to expand...

But that is not our problem, is theirs.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top