Asus RoG bundles Call of Duty: Black Ops 4

Asus' Republic of Gamers (RoG) division has announced a partnership with Activision to bring the company's Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 to customers as a free bundle with selected products, including laptops, desktops, monitors, and graphics cards.

The latest entry in the Call of Duty: Black Ops franchise, itself a spin-off of the central Call of Duty franchise in which players swap control of angry men with guns for other, different angry men with guns, is a departure from the norm: While earlier games have included a story-driven single-player mode, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is wholly multiplayer - including, to the surprise of nobody, a battle royale mode designed to compete with the success of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and Fortnite Battle Royale.

In a sign that publisher Activision isn't entirely confident that the numerically-confusing fifth entry in the Black Ops series will do all that well without a true single-player campaign, the company has signed a partnership with Asus to bundle the title with selected Republic of Gamers (RoG)-branded products.

'We are beyond thrilled to be partnering with Asus Republic of Gamers in an unprecedented way for Black Ops 4,' claims Ander Nickell, director of partnerships at Activision. 'Our development teams are hard at work making this the best PC Call of Duty game yet. Asus ROG shares that commitment to the community, so it was a natural fit to bring our brands together to deliver something special to fans.'

'Asus Republic of Gamers and Activision have enjoyed great successes over many years, within their respective markets, and we are excited to bring the two together,' adds Asus North American chief marketing officer Vivian Lien. 'ROG consistently delivers great gaming experiences by working closely with partners and publishers, both on the technology side and on the business side. We’ve collaborated with the eSports teams we sponsor to gain unique insight to provide leading performance and game-ruling innovation. And, similarly, we worked closely with Activision to integrate our RGB-lighting technology, Aura Sync, into this latest version of Call of Duty, to further enhance gameplay.'

The bundle offer, which is active in most countries including the UK, sees any purchase of an eligible Asus or RoG branded laptop, desktop, graphics card, monitor, wireless router, or motherboard with selected Intel processor between now and the end of the year - or 'while supplies last', Asus warns of a digitally-distributed product which by its very nature has a supply which can only be limited artificially. Oddly, the company isn't bundling the game with solus motherboards, only when purchased as a bundle, and neither are the company's AMD products eligible.

Full information on the eligible products and the retailers participating in the offer can be found on the official microsite.