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Nvidia Shuts Down Its GeForce Partner Program, Citing Misinformation (theregister.co.uk)

Posted by BeauHD on from the end-of-the-road dept.

In a blog post on Friday, Nvidia announced it is "pulling the plug" on the GeForce Partner Program (GPP) due to the company's unwillingness to combat "rumors" and "mistruths" about the platform. The GPP has only been active for a couple of months. It was launched as a way for gamers to know exactly what they're buying when shopping for a new gaming PC. "With this program, partners would provide full transparency regarding the installed hardware and software in their products," reports Digital Trends. From the report: Shortly after the launch, unnamed sources from add-in card and desktop/laptop manufacturers came forward to reveal that the program will likely hurt consumer choice. Even more, they worried that some of the agreement language may actually be illegal while the program itself could disrupt the current business they have with AMD and Intel. They also revealed one major requirement: The resulting product sports the label "[gaming brand] Aligned Exclusively with GeForce." As an example, if Asus wanted to add its Republic of Gamers (RoG) line to Nvidia's program, it wouldn't be allowed to sell RoG products with AMD-based graphics. Of course, manufacturers can choose whether or not to join Nvidia's program, but membership supposedly had its "perks" including access to early technology, sales rebate programs, game bundling, and more.

According to Nvidia, all it asked of its partners was to "brand their products in a way that would be crystal clear." The company says it didn't want "substitute GPUs hidden behind a pile of techno-jargon." Specifications for desktops and laptops tend to list their graphics components and PC gamers are generally intelligent shoppers that don't need any clarification. Regardless, Nvidia is pulling the controversial program because the "rumors, conjecture, and mistruths go far beyond" the program's intent.

7 of 82 comments (clear)

  1. How you know Nvidia is lying by mwvdlee · · Score: 4, Funny

    PC gamers are generally intelligent shoppers that don't need any clarification

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    1. Re:How you know Nvidia is lying by thegarbz · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Nvidia didn't say that. Digitaltrends did.

      Mind you it doesn't make the program any less questionable, especially if the techno jargon you're hiding is the performance features.

      Hey come buy the new Ford Mustang by Ford, because Ford Ford. It has some seats, and all the horsepowers. It has the things you expect, supports all kinds of drivers, and comes in red and black, wheels included in price.
      God I miss car analogies.

    2. Re:How you know Nvidia is lying by Type44Q · · Score: 4, Funny

      God I miss car analogies.

      Relied on those for years but for having to explain the necessity of 'Windows Reinstallations' to my clients, my mainstay was the following:

      Microsoft products are toilet paper grade... which is perfectly fine for some tasks... but when your toilet paper gets dirty, do you try to scrub out the shit-stains? No; you get a fresh roll.

  2. are you serious? by slashmydots · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I heard the entire document was leaked absolutely word for word verbatim. But no, guys, it's misinformation and misinterpretations. I am not misinformed about bullying your competition out of top product line names. That is what that was, the end.

  3. Isn't this what Intel was fined for? by Solandri · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Convincing PC makers like Dell and HP to join a program where they got special access and prices to Intel CPUs, in exchange for an exclusivity contract which prohibited the PC maker from selling AMD computers?

  4. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  5. Translation by Gaygirlie · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A lot has been said recently about our GeForce Partner Program. The rumors, conjecture and mistruths go far beyond its intent. Rather than battling misinformation, we have decided to cancel the program.

    What they actually meant: "You were all right about the GPP and what we were trying to do with it, we got caught red-handed and it backfired spectacularly, and now we'll just try to sweep it all under the rug as quickly and unceremoniously as possible."