It looks like AMD is getting ready to cause some waves in the PC gaming digital storefront game, but with a twist. Today, the company has announced plans to not only sell PC gaming titles via a new marketplace called “Robot Cache“, but will also allow you to resell titles purchased via this marketplace once you’re done. Which, up to know, has been a huge pain and something that publishers have pushed back against since forever.
Robotcache isn’t entirely new, as it was mentioned a good year ago, but was not available to the public. That all changes today as the open beta has only recently launched.
This new venture is also built on blockchain, which according to AMD will provide users with better security for the games purchased and allow users of the marketplace to “mine” store currency called “Iron”. This iron will be mined whenever you’re not playing games and will let users earn points to purchase games for free. This concept isn’t new, but using it to benefit gamers certainly is.
We’re experimenting with a radical new concept that allows gamers to sell their digital games after they’re done playing them. You’ve probably sold your old game discs to a retailer before, but now Robot Cache is extending that concept to the digital world. This is only possible with the help of the publishers and developers, and we’re thankful for their trust.
This has never been done before, so bear with us as we experiment with a completely different type of digital PC game store. We plan on doing things like rotating our top 10 lists to give more games visibility, having a section devoted to international developers, distributing blockchain games, and eventually opening some of our source code allowing you to expand this concept further than we could ever imagine.
Our goal is take the mystery out of mining. IRON is not a cryptocurrency and nor is Robot Cache built on a cryptocurrency foundation. Like other video game distribution platforms, you use real money to purchase games.
With your help we hope this starts a whole new paradigm for buying not only digital games, but eventually all forms of entertainment. Enjoy!
AMD has never been involved in selling titles, so this is a new approach for them. I found the idea interesting, so I decided to give it a go and so far, it’s fairly simple. To start, you just sign up for an account, download and install the client and you’re off. Once you’ve opened the client, you’re able to dictate if you want to mine at all and if so, you can choose when your CPU and GPU will start earning you free currency.
You don’t need to own an AMD GPU or CPU to participate either, as I was able to mine on both my Intel-based Surface Pro 6 and my Nvidia RTX card with my main PC. It is nice to see that AMD didn’t lock out those who aren’t using AMD products exclusively.
Along with mining, Robotcache also offers perks or bonuses that will provide extra currency while you mine. You’ll never know what you’ll get, I’m assuming to level the playing field.
As I haven’t purchased any games quite yet, I haven’t tested the reselling portion. However, once I do I’ll be sure to update this story. It’s also worth pointing out that this is also separate from other storefronts. so you won’t be able to resell games purchased anywhere but on Robotcache. Glancing over the initial library, they’ve curated a fairly decent list of available titles. Including titles such as Darksiders 3, VAMPYR, Superhot, Greedfall, Trine 4, and several others. I couldn’t see all of the available games as it looks like the website is fairly popular and is being hammered currently. There are a few upcoming games on there as well, such as Wasteland 3 and Rock of Ages III. No sign of other AAA or indie upcoming titles, but hopefully this will change.
It’s not just for gamers either, as Robotcache is offering two tiers to support partners who join up. As opposed to Steam’s cut, who looks to be Robotcache’s direct competition, they are offering a 95% to partners, while Robotcache only takes 5%. Or a 70% / 25% / 5% for resellers.
As for now, it’s too early to see if this venture will be successful or not, but it does have some merit. Allowing gamers to mine for free games while they’re just sitting idle is a novel concept if anything else. However, time will tell if this gets out of hand and people find ways to game the system. At the same time, if they don’t manage to fill the marketplace with newer titles, gamers could lose interest in this over time.
If you want to check out Robotcache, just head over to the website, download the client and give it a try for yourself.
