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Pulling the Plug on GeForce Partner Program

75 points by malmaud 8y ago

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
gervase 8y ago
It isn't clear to me from this press release what "leaning into GeForce" means. Will partners need to include the GeForce name as part of their product names, in addition to the product numbers? Anyway, I'm a little surprised that Nvidia didn't ride out the complaints and press their current GPU advantage, but I assume they're working with a more complete picture of the landscape than I am.
- crsv 8y ago
  They mean to convey emotionality rather than anything material was my take. I didn't see anything about a strategy or resource redirection, but rather they simply end something that wasn't a great look for them PR wise, and this was a PR announcement of that.
- jsnell 8y ago
  Oh, they absolutely didn't do this just due to PR reasons. This barely even showed up on the radar even for people who follow gaming technology, let alone the bigger market. Seems pretty obvious they realized they'd totally miscalculated things and this was going to be a legal nightmare for them in the EU. And you don't ride out the complaints anti-competition regulators.
- wmf 8y ago
  Will partners need to include the GeForce name as part of their product names, in addition to the product numbers? They already do and have all along. For example, if you search for something like Strix (a gaming brand) every product has either "GeForce" or "Radeon" in the name. The "transparency" that NVidia wants already exists.
ysleepy 8y ago
It was a huge dick move from the beginning. Requiring Partners to make their gaming brands Nvidia exclusive way obviously intended to hurt AMD. Maybe they got a serious call from the FTC about anticompetitive practices. Also see: https://www.hardocp.com/article/2018/03/08/geforce_partner_program_impacts_consumer_choice https://www.hardocp.com/article/2018/03/08/geforce_partner_p...
21 8y ago
I don't understand anything at all from this press release. Could somebody TL;DR the situation to someone who doesn't follow GPU markets?
- simion314 8y ago
  NVIDIA created at so called "transparent" partner program with the companies that sell this GPUs(ASUS,Gigabyte) but the text of this contracts was secret so there were many speculations on what it contained. What we know is that if you did not enter the program you risked not to get the chips in time and other bad things that would not be good for your company, hte partners would have to use only NVIDIA in the gaming brand, so ASUS has ROG a well known gaming brand, with this program they could use only NVIDIA in the ROG products and ASUS had to create a new brand for AMD products. There was a lot of hypocrisy from NVIDIA in all of this and anti-consumer practices.
- ztjio 8y ago
  The best summary is an example. Prior to the GPP muscling, ASUS sold both nVidia and AMD cards under its ASUS brand, using sub-brands like ROG, nonsense branding terms like Strix, etc. But they were all ASUS on the box. After capitulating to the GPP requirements from nVidia, all of ASUS’s AMD card offerings are rebranded under the name AREZ. The boxes hide the ASUS branding in dim gray, off in the corner, where you won’t notice it at all. It looks like an entirely different company and makes it look to a casual observer like ASUS (a famous brand like it or not) doesn’t even sell AMD cards. Only nVidia. And of course, AREZ is just some new no-name brand who can even trust it? And all they sell is AMD, probably some budget garbage right? It’s stupid. nVidia makes it sound like they were innocently trying to promote their products when they were actually forcing well known brands to entirely divorce their trusted names from AMD products. No matter what way nVidia tries to spin this, the outcome was anticompetitive in every way.
  - PascLeRasc 8y ago
    Thank you. I've read about twenty explanations in the past month and none of them have been helpful at all. This makes it clear.
kankroc 8y ago
Good riddance, it was a terrible anticompetitive idea and I would rather see Nvidia innovate instead of relying on such methods.
aphextron 8y ago
Anyone who thinks Nvidia was being anti-competitive here is delusional. There is no competition in the GPU market simply because there are no competitors. Nvidia GPUs are so far beyond AMD in terms of performance that they are qualitatively different products, which serve entirely different markets. The market could be called a duopoloy at best, but any notion of free market competition is absurd when you factor the sunk cost of trying to catch up with Nvidia. We're not talking about commodity widget makers vying for market share here. This is a company at the absolute forefront of computer science and engineering, pushing the boundaries of what is possible for humanity.
- vvanders 8y ago
  > pushing the boundaries of what is possible for humanity. Oh please. There's a ton of competition in the GPU space, heck Nvidia isn't even in one of the more popular modern consoles. There's other GPU markets as well where Nvidia is far from the dominant player.
  - aphextron 8y ago
    Who? Who else is selling top end consumer GPUs?
    - wmf 8y ago
      Sure, there's no competition for the 1080 Ti, Titans, Quadros, and Teslas but those are a small fraction of the market. For other GPUs, AMD and NVidia are pretty evenly matched.
      - aphextron 8y ago
        >Sure, there's no competition for the 1080 Ti, Titans, Quadros, and Teslas but those are a small fraction of the market. For other GPUs, AMD and NVidia are pretty evenly matched. This is precisely my point. If you are in the market for a top end consumer GPU, there is only one choice. It's not a matter of competition, no other company has an even remotely viable product.
mediocrejoker 8y ago
I find it hypocritical that NVIDIA is trying to spin this as an effort at "clear branding" when they also do things like releasing a lower power version of the MX150 without changing the branding. https://www.anandtech.com/show/12565/nvidia-silently-rolls-out-slower-mx150-for-ultrabooks https://www.anandtech.com/show/12565/nvidia-silently-rolls-o...
- kuwze 8y ago
  also[0]. [0]: https://www.notebookcheck.net/Nvidia-has-been-sneaking-in-slower-GeForce-MX150-1D12-variant-onto-some-Ultrabooks.289358.0.html https://www.notebookcheck.net/Nvidia-has-been-sneaking-in-sl...
wmf 8y ago
Has anyone heard of "substitute [presumably AMD] GPUs hidden behind a pile of techno-jargon"?
- garyfirestorm 8y ago
  that did make me laugh. user: i would like to order ummmmmm....a GPU seller: we got this high performance gaming GPU that is compatible with direct X, uses DDR5 8gig memory and base clocked at 1600 MHz, memory speed is 10gbps, supports open gl has high bandwidth memory. we call it {asus/msi/...} GPX10000000x user: i just want the one with Nvidia Pascal. thx. ;)
TazeTSchnitzel 8y ago
Are they actually pulling it? Maybe they're just trying to avoid negative publicity. If they are pulling it, I wonder why. I suppose it probably meant all their AIB partners hated them.
- slumberlust 8y ago
  They're pulling it because it already did its damage. That and to make GPP2.0 w/ nda/gag orders built in.
dawnerd 8y ago
> Rather than battling misinformation, we have decided to cancel the program. I find that hilarious. Trying to make themselves sound like the victim here.
jacquesm 8y ago
Does this give any hope that if enough pressure is put on Nvidia that they will cave? If so someone ought to point out to regulators what they have done with that ridiculous 'forbidden in datacenters' clause.
- MrEldritch 8y ago
  Please don't. I like being able to afford GPUs for my gaming PC. If the price equilibrated to be somewhere between current absurdly-underpriced "gaming" GPUs and absurdly-overpriced "datacenter" GPUs, I would not be able to afford them.
cmiles74 8y ago
The Register claims that the FTC and the European Commission were looking into it. "Last month, some of those who had complained claimed in online forums that they had been contacted by regulators, including the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and European Commission, and had been told the authorities were looking into the reports." https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/05/04/nvidia_gpp_axed/ https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/05/04/nvidia_gpp_axed/
dbuder 8y ago
It really was an ugly strategy, if you want to control branding, sell the graphics cards yourselves. They're a component manufacturer that has gotten too full of themselves.

75 points by malmaud 8y ago

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

It isn't clear to me from this press release what "leaning into GeForce" means. Will partners need to include the GeForce name as part of their product names, in addition to the product numbers? Anyway, I'm a little surprised that Nvidia didn't ride out the complaints and press their current GPU advantage, but I assume they're working with a more complete picture of the landscape than I am.

crsv 8y ago
They mean to convey emotionality rather than anything material was my take. I didn't see anything about a strategy or resource redirection, but rather they simply end something that wasn't a great look for them PR wise, and this was a PR announcement of that.
jsnell 8y ago
Oh, they absolutely didn't do this just due to PR reasons. This barely even showed up on the radar even for people who follow gaming technology, let alone the bigger market. Seems pretty obvious they realized they'd totally miscalculated things and this was going to be a legal nightmare for them in the EU. And you don't ride out the complaints anti-competition regulators.
wmf 8y ago
Will partners need to include the GeForce name as part of their product names, in addition to the product numbers? They already do and have all along. For example, if you search for something like Strix (a gaming brand) every product has either "GeForce" or "Radeon" in the name. The "transparency" that NVidia wants already exists.

ysleepy 8y ago

It was a huge dick move from the beginning. Requiring Partners to make their gaming brands Nvidia exclusive way obviously intended to hurt AMD. Maybe they got a serious call from the FTC about anticompetitive practices. Also see: https://www.hardocp.com/article/2018/03/08/geforce_partner_program_impacts_consumer_choice https://www.hardocp.com/article/2018/03/08/geforce_partner_p...

21 8y ago

I don't understand anything at all from this press release. Could somebody TL;DR the situation to someone who doesn't follow GPU markets?

simion314 8y ago
NVIDIA created at so called "transparent" partner program with the companies that sell this GPUs(ASUS,Gigabyte) but the text of this contracts was secret so there were many speculations on what it contained. What we know is that if you did not enter the program you risked not to get the chips in time and other bad things that would not be good for your company, hte partners would have to use only NVIDIA in the gaming brand, so ASUS has ROG a well known gaming brand, with this program they could use only NVIDIA in the ROG products and ASUS had to create a new brand for AMD products. There was a lot of hypocrisy from NVIDIA in all of this and anti-consumer practices.
ztjio 8y ago
The best summary is an example. Prior to the GPP muscling, ASUS sold both nVidia and AMD cards under its ASUS brand, using sub-brands like ROG, nonsense branding terms like Strix, etc. But they were all ASUS on the box. After capitulating to the GPP requirements from nVidia, all of ASUS’s AMD card offerings are rebranded under the name AREZ. The boxes hide the ASUS branding in dim gray, off in the corner, where you won’t notice it at all. It looks like an entirely different company and makes it look to a casual observer like ASUS (a famous brand like it or not) doesn’t even sell AMD cards. Only nVidia. And of course, AREZ is just some new no-name brand who can even trust it? And all they sell is AMD, probably some budget garbage right? It’s stupid. nVidia makes it sound like they were innocently trying to promote their products when they were actually forcing well known brands to entirely divorce their trusted names from AMD products. No matter what way nVidia tries to spin this, the outcome was anticompetitive in every way.
- PascLeRasc 8y ago
  Thank you. I've read about twenty explanations in the past month and none of them have been helpful at all. This makes it clear.

kankroc 8y ago

Good riddance, it was a terrible anticompetitive idea and I would rather see Nvidia innovate instead of relying on such methods.

aphextron 8y ago

Anyone who thinks Nvidia was being anti-competitive here is delusional. There is no competition in the GPU market simply because there are no competitors. Nvidia GPUs are so far beyond AMD in terms of performance that they are qualitatively different products, which serve entirely different markets. The market could be called a duopoloy at best, but any notion of free market competition is absurd when you factor the sunk cost of trying to catch up with Nvidia. We're not talking about commodity widget makers vying for market share here. This is a company at the absolute forefront of computer science and engineering, pushing the boundaries of what is possible for humanity.

vvanders 8y ago
> pushing the boundaries of what is possible for humanity. Oh please. There's a ton of competition in the GPU space, heck Nvidia isn't even in one of the more popular modern consoles. There's other GPU markets as well where Nvidia is far from the dominant player.
- aphextron 8y ago
  Who? Who else is selling top end consumer GPUs?
  - wmf 8y ago
    Sure, there's no competition for the 1080 Ti, Titans, Quadros, and Teslas but those are a small fraction of the market. For other GPUs, AMD and NVidia are pretty evenly matched.
    - aphextron 8y ago
      >Sure, there's no competition for the 1080 Ti, Titans, Quadros, and Teslas but those are a small fraction of the market. For other GPUs, AMD and NVidia are pretty evenly matched. This is precisely my point. If you are in the market for a top end consumer GPU, there is only one choice. It's not a matter of competition, no other company has an even remotely viable product.

mediocrejoker 8y ago

I find it hypocritical that NVIDIA is trying to spin this as an effort at "clear branding" when they also do things like releasing a lower power version of the MX150 without changing the branding. https://www.anandtech.com/show/12565/nvidia-silently-rolls-out-slower-mx150-for-ultrabooks https://www.anandtech.com/show/12565/nvidia-silently-rolls-o...

kuwze 8y ago
also[0]. [0]: https://www.notebookcheck.net/Nvidia-has-been-sneaking-in-slower-GeForce-MX150-1D12-variant-onto-some-Ultrabooks.289358.0.html https://www.notebookcheck.net/Nvidia-has-been-sneaking-in-sl...

wmf 8y ago

Has anyone heard of "substitute [presumably AMD] GPUs hidden behind a pile of techno-jargon"?

garyfirestorm 8y ago
that did make me laugh. user: i would like to order ummmmmm....a GPU seller: we got this high performance gaming GPU that is compatible with direct X, uses DDR5 8gig memory and base clocked at 1600 MHz, memory speed is 10gbps, supports open gl has high bandwidth memory. we call it {asus/msi/...} GPX10000000x user: i just want the one with Nvidia Pascal. thx. ;)

TazeTSchnitzel 8y ago

Are they actually pulling it? Maybe they're just trying to avoid negative publicity. If they are pulling it, I wonder why. I suppose it probably meant all their AIB partners hated them.

slumberlust 8y ago
They're pulling it because it already did its damage. That and to make GPP2.0 w/ nda/gag orders built in.

dawnerd 8y ago

> Rather than battling misinformation, we have decided to cancel the program. I find that hilarious. Trying to make themselves sound like the victim here.

jacquesm 8y ago

Does this give any hope that if enough pressure is put on Nvidia that they will cave? If so someone ought to point out to regulators what they have done with that ridiculous 'forbidden in datacenters' clause.

MrEldritch 8y ago
Please don't. I like being able to afford GPUs for my gaming PC. If the price equilibrated to be somewhere between current absurdly-underpriced "gaming" GPUs and absurdly-overpriced "datacenter" GPUs, I would not be able to afford them.

cmiles74 8y ago

The Register claims that the FTC and the European Commission were looking into it. "Last month, some of those who had complained claimed in online forums that they had been contacted by regulators, including the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and European Commission, and had been told the authorities were looking into the reports." https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/05/04/nvidia_gpp_axed/ https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/05/04/nvidia_gpp_axed/

dbuder 8y ago

It really was an ugly strategy, if you want to control branding, sell the graphics cards yourselves. They're a component manufacturer that has gotten too full of themselves.