[fudzilla] Nvidia spends 5 million on Ubisoft deal

[Final8ty]

Assassin?s Creed 5 and Watch Dogs
Nvidia has close ties with Ubisoft and every now and then it tries to voice its support for 4K gaming.

We do know that Nvidia already has some Assassin?s creed demos with 4K textures that are supposed to look amazing as Nvidia agrees with AMD thinking that future of gaming is in 4K gaming.

Our industry sources now tell us that it?s just AMD spending serious bucks on the Battlefield 4 deal. It turns out that the guys behind The way it?s meant to be played and Nvidia ISV (independent software vendor) relationship have spent about $5 million on their Ubisoft deal.

It involves two games, Assassins Creed 5 and Watch Dogs and our sources tell us that AMD was looking into a similar deal with Ubisoft, but it walked away simply as they believed that spending a similar or slightly higher amount on an AAA shooter like Battlefield 4 was a better deal ? plus BF4 is the first game to support AMD?s new Mantle API, so it just made more sense.

The PC game industry cannot be happier, as two top companies are competing for attention, practically courting developer and publishers.

http://www.fudzilla.com/home/item/32...n-ubisoft-deal

[Dimitriman]

Well we know who won't be using Mantle...

[SKYMTL]

I love competition. AMD sank millions into their ISV program, beating NVIDIA to several big titles. Now it's NVIDIA's turn. To me, this situation will only benefit PC users since we'll (hopefully) see better ports and enhanced graphics.

[PatRaceTin]

Yes

[himaro]

While in the immediate future, it benefits us all, long term it may harm the games industry.
like with the batman series and PhysX for example. the game simply doesn't look anywhere near as nice without it.
that sort of thing concerns me

[RVWinkle]

I love competition. AMD sank millions into their ISV program, beating NVIDIA to several big titles. Now it's NVIDIA's turn. To me, this situation will only benefit PC users since we'll (hopefully) see better ports and enhanced graphics.

I disagree, the money they spend on these programs is recaptured by raising the price of video cards.

The second problem is no matter which card you choose, only half of the new games will be optimized for it. Are we supposed to buy two video cards?

The third problem is discussion of UHD resolution. It's going to be several years before these monitors are affordable for poor people which will fragment the pc market and drive people towards more affordable platforms like consoles.

[lowfat]

Meh, I refuse to play Ubisoft games anyways due to their awful required UPlay software.

[AbortRetryFail?]

Tom Clancy has died at age 66

[HelixPC]

Uplay is not that bad

[zalbard]

Battlefield 4 sounds like a better investment than these two.

But then again, both AC5 and BF4 are iterative rehashes of same old thing...

[SKYMTL]

I disagree, the money they spend on these programs is recaptured by raising the price of video cards.

The second problem is no matter which card you choose, only half of the new games will be optimized for it. Are we supposed to buy two video cards?

The third problem is discussion of UHD resolution. It's going to be several years before these monitors are affordable for poor people which will fragment the pc market and drive people towards more affordable platforms like consoles.

IMO, UHD is simply a marketing tool at this point. Much like stereoscopic was three years ago. Plus, the monitor technology is so immature that tiling is needed to achieve a passable experience. No thanks. UHD will only be viable once single input HDMI 2.0 panels are widely available which will drive down the cost significantly. Until then, I'll avoid it like the plague.

As for the price of video cards, I find that now, more than ever, you can achieve an excellent gameplay experience on a $300 graphics card. Four, five years ago that wasn't possible. To me, that makes PC gaming more affordable since better technology is now available in lower price points.

[Tim]

IMO, UHD is simply a marketing tool at this point. Much like stereoscopic was three years ago. Plus, the monitor technology is so immature that tiling is needed to achieve a passable experience. No thanks. UHD will only be viable once single input HDMI 2.0 panels are widely available which will drive down the cost significantly. Until then, I'll avoid it like the plague.

As for the price of video cards, I find that now, more than ever, you can achieve an excellent gameplay experience on a $300 graphics card. Four, five years ago that wasn't possible. To me, that makes PC gaming more affordable since better technology is now available in lower price points.

I'm extremely happy with my 22" display still, means my framerates are still high without any of this 4K business.

[[XC] Oj101]

While in the immediate future, it benefits us all, long term it may harm the games industry.
like with the batman series and PhysX for example. the game simply doesn't look anywhere near as nice without it.
that sort of thing concerns me

You can't knock NVIDIA for that. Without their input, NOBODY would have the graphical niceties. People are very quick to forget PhysX isn't an effect disabled on AMD graphics cards, but rather something ADDED for NVIDIA users.

[BenchZowner]

I dislike this almost "purely marketing" and viral approach both manufacturers are taking.
I'd rather have both sending early E.S. to all major ( and minor why not, they're supporting crappy reviews sites, why not support some people who actually produce something other than crappy reviews bulling the readers with big fat lies and not pointing out any product weaknesses in order to not gamble on getting on the manufacturer's black list ) game developers, and send some soft. engineers as well to assist in game engine optimization for their cards.

Cheaper for AMD/nVIDIA, better for the public ( no half-as$ed optimizations for one manuf., no dirty tricks ).

If only... wishful thinking for our crappy society...

[BababooeyHTJ]

I love competition. AMD sank millions into their ISV program, beating NVIDIA to several big titles. Now it's NVIDIA's turn. To me, this situation will only benefit PC users since we'll (hopefully) see better ports and enhanced graphics.

Yes sir, I agree with that.

Battlefield 4 sounds like a better investment than these two.

But then again, both AC5 and BF4 are iterative rehashes of same old thing...

I agree, I've seen quite a few threads with people commenting on buying hardware specifically with BF3 in mind.

[Flanman]

I started my new build mainly because of bf4. I loved bf2 and when I heard commander was back I got excited.

[tajoh111]

Yes sir, I agree with that.



I agree, I've seen quite a few threads with people commenting on buying hardware specifically with BF3 in mind.

First person shooters are the best games to invest in. FPS are the most competitive games out there and typically the most graphic intensive.

People rationalize high end hardware thinking fast hardware will give them higher FPS and make them better games.

[DefStar]

I love the Far Cry series... AMD has always had enough brute force to make up for lack of optimizations. Remember though, Dice's BF4 is going to be a lot bigger than anything Ubisoft currently has to offer.

[Tao~]

Umm.. so the deal was to use 4K textures(useless), add the TWIMTBP logo(useless) and PhysX ? Or does nV have some specific new technology akin to Mantle ?

PS : I know the sales wouldn't line up but WatchDogs looks far more interesting than a rinse-repeat like BF4

[STEvil]

First person shooters are the best games to invest in. FPS are the most competitive games out there and typically the most graphic intensive.

People rationalize high end hardware thinking fast hardware will give them higher FPS and make them better games.

Not sure if you're trying to make a joke here..

[Kuroimaho]

Umm.. so the deal was to use 4K textures(useless), add the TWIMTBP logo(useless) and PhysX ? Or does nV have some specific new technology akin to Mantle ?

PS : I know the sales wouldn't line up but WatchDogs looks far more interesting than a rinse-repeat like BF4

I concur, Watch dogs seems more likely to bring something new to gaming than another BF. I pass on the BF but get Watch dogs for sure.

[stuffme]

Nobody said which game would bring more new to the game arena, the only think somebody said was that supporting BF4 makes more sense. He is right, seeing the sale numbers of BF3, this makes sense in business point of view and nobody care which brings more new to the game.

[nossy23]

I don't know if this was such a smart move from Nvidia. Yeah AC5, Watch Dogs and BF4 area all 3 great looking games. And I know several people who upgraded their HW for BF3, and even a few for BF4. I do not know anybody upgrading for AC5 or Watch Dogs. I think AMD made the right move on this one.

[zalbard]

Or does nV have some specific new technology akin to Mantle ?

They have NVAPI (impossible to tell whether one is better than the other right now, and both companies can expand their API if they wish to do so).
Although I think both of these are extremely overhyped by people who have no clue.

[Tao~]

They have NVAPI (impossible to tell whether one is better than the other right now, and both companies can expand their API if they wish to do so).
Although I think both of these are extremely overhyped by people who have no clue.

I checked their website - it seems nV has put this on suspends mode - no updates since April and supports only Windows. It has no specific mention of how it can be used to elevate performance - seems very generic (which is both good and bad). You're right - a lot of scope for expansion - nVapi 2.0 might be in the works

From what I gather its not about specific games - its about pushing the workloads. I'm sure nV and AMD would also be working with display manufacturers to get cheaper 4K panels to the market. The threat is the increasing power of iGPU - it is already satisfactory for 720p.