Blizzard Entertainment and AMD Team Up

[GameBanshee News]

Blizzard Entertainment and AMD have announced a partnership to bundle and optimize the former's games with the latter's graphics hardware.

AMD and Blizzard Entertainment® Join Forces in Strategic Global Agreement

-- Collaboration helps ensure rich experience for World of Warcraft® gamers playing on new AMD ATI Radeon™ HD 4800 series graphics cards--

SUNNYVALE, Calif. -- August 12, 2008 --AMD (NYSE: 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.

About AMD
Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) is a leading global provider of innovative processing solutions in the computing and graphics markets. AMD is dedicated to driving open innovation, choice and industry growth by delivering superior customer-centric solutions that empower consumers and businesses worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.amd.com.

About Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.
Best known for blockbuster hits including World of Warcraft and the Warcraft®, StarCraft, and Diablo® series, Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. (www.blizzard.com), a division of Vivendi Games, is a premier developer and publisher of entertainment software renowned for creating some of the industry’s most critically acclaimed games. Blizzard Entertainment’s track record includes ten #1-selling games and multiple Game of the Year awards. The company’s online-gaming service, Battle.net®, is one of the largest in the world, with millions of active users.

[BuckGB]

This is great news for PC gamers, even if you don't care for AMD/ATI hardware. NVIDIA has been gouging us since the GeForce 7 series, but has recently dropped prices by a good margin across their 9 and 200 series due to the increased competition from ATI's 4000 series. This partnership with Blizzard should only help this trend continue.

With so many other developers going exclusive to NVIDIA, it's almost as if Blizzard is bucking the trend on purpose just to promote healthy competition in the graphical hardware market.

[Brother None]

Originally Posted by BuckGB

With so many other developers going exclusive to NVIDIA, it's almost as if Blizzard is bucking the trend on purpose just to promote healthy competition in the graphical hardware market.

Eh. More likely the skewed market enabled them to get a better deal from AMD.

[BuckGB]

Maybe, but why does Blizzard need to make a deal with either company? They're doing just fine without taking the time to set up a partnership like this. Sure, it gets World of Warcraft out to more people, but I can't help but think there might be something more than just revenue being considered in a deal like this.

[DesR85]

SUNNYVALE, Calif. -- August 12, 2008 --AMD (NYSE: 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™.

Not surprising. Besides, Valve did something similar by bundling Half-Life 2 to Radeon 9600XT cards when Half-Life 2 first came out (not sure if all of them have that because I only come across the GeCube version).

Well, as long as these games can run decently, I don't really care if Blizzard supports either Nvidia or ATi.