Amazon Japan has GPU loot boxes, mostly selling outdated GPUs. A type of loot box system for PC graphics cards has appeared on Amazon Japan, presumably indicating how awful the market for them is right now. While there’s a chance you’ll get an RTX 30 series or Radeon 6000 card; it’s far more likely you’ll get a GTX 900 series or something even older.
On Amazon Japan, IGRNG has a product page advertising a GPU “surprise blind box” for just $100. A randomly picked Nvidia and AMD graphics card from the previous several years is included in the box. “An adventure about courage and good fortune,” the description reads. It’s currently out of stock, with no indication of when more will be available.
The page for the GPU Loot Boxes mentions the RTX 3090, RTX 3080 Ti, RTX 3070 Ti, and RTX 3060 Ti from Nvidia’s Ampere line. According to the seller, the RX 6900 XT, RX 6800, RX 6700 XT, and RX 6600 XT are AMD’s RDNA2 series. A surprise box may contain old cards. However, according to the listing, all Ampere and RDNA2 cards are completely new.
The actual probabilities are what concerns me. Buyers have a 2% chance of winning an Ampere or RDNA2 card. There is a 4% chance of winning an RTX 20 or RX 5000 card, an 8% chance of winning a GTX 10 series or RX 500, and a 16% chance of winning a GTX 900 series or RX 300. The remaining 70% are “other” cards, such as outdated GPUs. There are currently only two reviews on the page, one written by someone who had not even purchased the box.
Even with the current prices, $100 would be a reasonable investment for one of the earlier cards. Cards like the GTX 980, which is seven years old, are still selling for several hundred dollars. If nothing else, winning and flipping an older card could be profitable for a customer.
