AMD and Blizzard Entertainment Join Forces in Strategic Global Agreement

[malware]

AMD today announced that it has entered into an agreement with Blizzard Entertainment that will allow AMD to bundle Blizzard’s best games across all ATI Radeon graphics products, to deliver a superior gaming experience. As the exclusive graphics sponsor for BlizzCon 2008 in Anaheim, Oct. 10-11, AMD will treat gamers to the unparalleled graphics capabilities of the ATI Radeon HD 4800 series in all PCs for game play at BlizzCon.


“Blizzard Entertainment is responsible for the hottest titles in PC gaming and AMD is excited to be working closely with one of the top development teams in the industry to deliver exceptional gaming experiences for players around the world,” said Rick Bergman, senior vice president and general manager, Graphics Products, AMD. “Gamers have a variety of choices when it comes to graphics cards, and those who choose ATI Radeon solutions can be confident their purchase will give them the visually rich, high-performance experience they expect.”

“Our collaboration with AMD is especially important to us because it provides us with early access to some of the latest graphics technology,” said Paul Sams, chief operating officer of Blizzard Entertainment. “Delivering a polished game experience is one of our top priorities, and this relationship helps us achieve that goal for Blizzard gamers who choose AMD graphics cards.”

AMD is committed to helping PC gamers around the world enjoy The Ultimate Visual Experience. The collaboration with Blizzard Entertainment underscores the mission of its recently announced AMD GAME! initiative, which is dedicated to providing consumers the information they need to help them better understand gaming technology and thus purchase the right systems and components they need to best meet their high-definition gaming needs.

Source: AMD

[malware]

Many thanks to our forum member PCpraiser100 for this story.

[JC316]

What games would they have with it though? They haven't really done much since Warcraft 3, except WoW. I mean, the company really only has a handful of games to work with, not like EA or THQ that puts out 50 games a month.

[OzzmanFloyd120]

OH MY GOD!?! AMD DOING PR AND ADVERTIZING!? :heartattack:
About time.

[tkpenalty]

Originally Posted by OzzmanFloyd120

OH MY GOD!?! AMD DOING PR AND ADVERTIZING!? :heartattack:
About time.

We should give them a prize for doing that

[kuroikenshi]

Originally Posted by JC316

What games would they have with it though? They haven't really done much since Warcraft 3, except WoW. I mean, the company really only has a handful of games to work with, not like EA or THQ that puts out 50 games a month.

Diablo 3? Starcraft 2? Their next-gen MMO that they are working on? Future WoW expansions? Also Blizzard is about quality, not quantity.

[W1zzard]

i wonder how much amd paid to get this

[Bastieeeh]

Originally Posted by kuroikenshi

Diablo 3? Starcraft 2? Their next-gen MMO that they are working on? Future WoW expansions? Also Blizzard is about quality, not quantity.

Starcraft 2 will be out when? Sometime next year (hopefully)? And Diablo 3 will probably be out in 2010?!? That's obviously not a short term relationship (at least if AMD survives that long ).
In addition AMD won't pay for a World Of Warcraft account, neither do I personally find it attractive to buy a WoW expansion together with a graphics card.
In general I don't like the whole idea of bundling a game with a piece of hardware. It's always the wrong kind of game or the wrong time (the game was out months earlier and I already played it). Instead the hardware should come without a game and therefore could be a bit less pricey.

:EDIT:

Originally Posted by W1zzard

i wonder how much amd paid to get this

Too much imho.
:EDIT:

[ASharp]

Originally Posted by Bastieeeh

Too much imho.

And how much exactly did they pay?

Anyway, if AMD could have aligned themselves with any developer, Blizzard definitely wasn't a bad choice. One of the best developers in the PC gaming industry by far.

[mdm-adph]

Originally Posted by W1zzard

i wonder how much amd paid to get this

I'm willing to bet that Activision-Blizzard (or whatever it's called now) paid AMD for this deal -- hell, isn't Blizzard's market cap like three times what AMD's is?

[Viscarious]

Originally Posted by Bastieeeh

Starcraft 2 will be out when? Sometime next year (hopefully)? And Diablo 3 will probably be out in 2010?!? That's obviously not a short term relationship (at least if AMD survives that long ).
In addition AMD won't pay for a World Of Warcraft account, neither do I personally find it attractive to buy a WoW expansion together with a graphics card.
In general I don't like the whole idea of bundling a game with a piece of hardware. It's always the wrong kind of game or the wrong time (the game was out months earlier and I already played it). Instead the hardware should come without a game and therefore could be a bit less pricey.

:EDIT:


Too much imho.
:EDIT:

I thought SC2 and DB3 was late this year. Although I dont really know. I dont follow those type of games very closely as Im a first person shooter type of guy. Oh and gary's mod.

[Selene]

I can see SC2 out Nov-Dec 2008, D3 Nov-Dec 2009.
This still would not drive me to buy ATI tho.

[PCpraiser100]

Either way, this could give Phenom owners a bit of a break with Blizzard's most well-known titles. AMD is in a lot of trouble with the Phenoms and with the upcoming D 400 line, as Intel and Nvidia has got most of the FPS game dev community on lockdown so Phenom won't get optimized. Until AMD decided to think about devs that mostly RPG gamers like (such as budget builders hint! hint!) and took action with Blizzard. On the road to rain supreme from another game genre. Kinda smart if you ask me. As for ATI cards, this could be a solution for some people who still own ATI cards from the HD 2000 series as well.

[Nothgrin]

If you think about it Blizzard NEVER rush their games. The polish them so much to make them fun. If we take WotLK for example its already in beta test and its probably set for a Christmas-time release. SC2 is nowhere near Alpha or Beta yet. They still havent even finalized the units/tech tree so I would assume its at least another year and a half before the game is even sent to Alpha/Beta. They introduced the game a little over a year ago and since then they have finalized about 15 units total so they still have a bit to go I presume. As for Diablo 3 they just announced it not too long ago and they are still missing a few classes. They just recently lost their Lead Art Director as well so they need some time to find someone to fill that spot and get with the system.

[MadClown]

damnit now i have to buy a new card if it gives me a free game along with it

[candle_86]

most likly demo's like the gay 10 day wow trial with the catalyst driver

[russianboy]

Originally Posted by candle_86

most likly demo's like the gay 10 day wow trial with the catalyst driver

Why would AMD pay for a 10 day demo?

Finally, I was getting sick of Nvidia and Intel with their constant advertising.

[Darkrealms]

LoL, for some reason I thought the Blizzard-Activision merger would change Blizzard. They would have never done this before. I hope it just stays at PR levels and Activision doesn't get in Blizzards R&D business.

Don't get me wrong I think this is a GREAT move for AMD/ATI. The more pressure on Nvidia and Intel the better. It just concerns me about BLIZZ quality since the merger.

I agree Starcraft2 and Diablo3 should be great. And then theres the WoW expansion also due end of year. For those that are still swaying it may make them go ATI.

. . . just sucks for me ; P

Originally Posted by W1zzard

i wonder how much amd paid to get this

x2 (or 5 now)

[Polarman]

About time!

Most of the game out there are made, tested and optimized with Nvidia in mind. It's ATI's turn to get the "royal" treatment this time with Blizzard.

[yogurt_21]

Originally Posted by MadClown

DAAMIT now i have to buy a new card if it gives me a free game along with it

fixed.

interesting, new management at amd and all of the sudden amd realizes theres a thing called advertizing. wow. took em long enough.

They seem to be pulling up a bit so hopefully we'll start to see some of the old amd again.

[Viscarious]

Originally Posted by PCpraiser100

Either way, this could give Phenom owners a bit of a break with Blizzard's most well-known titles. AMD is in a lot of trouble with the Phenoms and with the upcoming D 400 line, as Intel and Nvidia has got most of the FPS game dev community on lockdown so Phenom won't get optimized. Until AMD decided to think about devs that mostly RPG gamers like (such as budget builders hint! hint!) and took action with Blizzard. On the road to rain supreme from another game genre. Kinda smart if you ask me. As for ATI cards, this could be a solution for some people who still own ATI cards from the HD 2000 series as well.

Uhh...Im not sure what you mean by trouble with the Phenoms?

I own a 9850BE and I've never been happier. I also own a Q6600 so dont call me bias.

[WarEagleAU]

Looks like good news to me and its about time AMD did some form of advertising/pr deal.

[PCpraiser100]

Originally Posted by Viscarious

Uhh...Im not sure what you mean by trouble with the Phenoms?

I own a 9850BE and I've never been happier. I also own a Q6600 so dont call me bias.

Having a Phenom on Intel optimized titles like Crysis can suck. I know cause one of my clan members keep lagging on Crysis with his 9500 until he put it on OC to 2.5 GHz (his card is an 8800GT). The Phenoms are not bad, its just that in some titles getting through Intel optimizations can be a real pain in the ass. I love the Phenoms cause when I took my friend's Phenom build for a spin on games with mediocre engines like Half-Life 2, I knew that this CPU has a big gift in gaming, until we took the path to hell on Crysis. If you like games with mediocre engines, you should be very fine.