Question Nvidia Game Bundle download issue

[Fluffly Fluff]

I was born and grew up in Canada and live an work abroad but often have language issues when I buy things where I live, in Japan. The language is real nightmare for me (the grammar is a nightmare and so are the reading/writing systems--and technology related things--double ouch), so I often buy tech stuff through Amazon in the US.

Well, I recently bought an Nvidia card that has promotional games included. All well and good, right? But now when I go to download said games via Geforce Experience I am hit with an error because, according to Nvidia, I am not downloading in the country/region where I bought the card. They say I need to be in the US even though the promotion is "worldwide" generally speaking, excluding two or three countries, but not Japan.

So, what? I have to physically take my 20 kg PC into the US so I can download two games? Nvidia also suggested I have a friend with the same hardware download the games in the US (and what, then have the friend play them for me, too?). Yaay, Nvidia. Can anyone suggest any solution to this issue? Perhaps I ought to sell them on eBay then? What a farce. I have been thinking VPN, but don't know much about VPNs, if anything, and whether that will work with GeForce Experience, which is the avenue through which you have to proceed.

 

[Frag Maniac]

If the product details describe it as just "worldwide", it would be one thing, but if it says "worldwide excluding Japan", that's quite another. Whenever you have a scenario like yours, you must read the fine print carefully before purchase.

As far as using a VPN, it may or may not work. I've read you can for instance use a proxy IP using a VPN to stream TV content (free OTA TV, not cable) from a far away country, but when a significant amount of money is involved for a product purchased, it's more carefully monitored.

My advice is to learn from this and not attempt to DL via VPN. If you play the game online it could get you banned from their servers. Even if you only play offline you could get banned from activating any of their game keys if caught.

Instead I would contact the customer service number or email of the ones making and/or distributing the game, and tell them your situation, and ask if there's a way you could work it out. At the very least you could probably sell any bundle keys you've not yet activated on eBay. People do it all the time and it's perfectly legal. You just need to make sure you describe the region restrictions accurately.

 

[Fluffly Fluff]

Thanks for your reply. A few minutes after posting here and two online chats with Nvidia later (with misinformation from the first customer service rep) Nvidia's software alerted me, saying it was fine to proceed. A few clicks after that I was at Bethesda and Epic Games website with game keys. I was able to download the Wolfenstein Youngblood game problem free, but now Epic's launcher shows the game in my library and in their store as "Owned" but the download does not work--and on the game in the library there appears the word "Unavailable." Well, that is no good, so I then contacted Epic Games with an email to customer support, and got the message back to contact Nvidia. Since the Bethesda download was fine, I was sure the problem was on Epic Games' end, so I emailed them back to that effect but I got no reply (yeah, it is just a "promotion," and I wonder if they are the same with all of their customers). So there you are. So far, Nvidia was no help until repeated chats, and now Epic is not answering emails and offering poor quality customer support with no fix. I have now sent them back replies with screen shots of their game launcher, but again, no reply. About half an hour ago I quit the replies and sent them a new message through their system, back at square one.

Now with two hours plus down the tube with frustration, hassles, emails, and chats (and that excludes these forum posts), I have one of two games installed. My takeaway so far it is all gimmickry, not worth the frustration, and I think these bundles are just a waste of everyone's time and money. In all honesty, I think AMD and their competing Microsoft bundle are a better deal, probably without the hassles, and AMD is smarter in this regard by offering three free months free gameplay with Microsoft's subscription service. However, I think you have to use a credit card at Microsoft (and have read horror stories about doing that) or Paypal for continuing with that beyond the three months. Paypal (and Ebay) for me has been a stew of nightmares, problems, hassles, and hoops to jump through for simple transactions that proceed at Amazon without a glitch.

Edit: It turns out the game "Control" is not available until August 27th. Epic Games was not able to point that out. My bad I guess, because I did not realize that myself, and Epic Games was pointing that out.