Earlier today, AMD launched their newest product, the Radeon RX 6000 Series GPUs. This line, set to directly compete with Nvidia’s recent GeForce RTX 30-series launch, included the RX 6800 and RX 6800 XT.
Unfortunately, this launch was also horrible, to be blunt. Many of the listings were late to appear, only to finally be listed as having already sold out of stock. Newegg, Amazon, Best Buy, AMD, and other retailers all ran out of stock within a couple of minutes at most, and that’s only if you count the lag time.
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This was about as frustrating as it could get for enthusiasts that were looking forward to the release, especially given that so much of AMD’s marketing was based on not letting this happen. Given that Nvidia’s 30-series launch had been mind-boggling terrible, AMD had a pretty low bar.
But against all odds, AMD managed to sneak just under that bar, coming in with a launch that somehow managed to be even worse. Now, some news is coming out that has the thousands of enthusiasts that couldn’t get a card a bit incensed.
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According to some pictures being circulated around social media, AMD sent private codes to AMD social media influencers and, some allege, those that had signed up for the AMD newsletter. These private codes granted access to a reserved stock to allow these individuals to get their cards sooner.
Before we go any further, it’s worth saying that this currently is an alleged event and not a confirmed one, and it wouldn’t be the first time that someone doctored images to make a company look bad. That said, there are plenty of people claiming to have received an email, and one of the pictures posted can be found in the tweet embedded above.
It’s a complicated issue, for certain, with many equating it to companies sending media test cards to organizations like Linus Tech Tips so that they can create content based around it. However, many are still calling foul play.
One of the more problematic avenues of this is that it guarantees the cards go to the more vocal AMD supporters, who in turn are likely to make it seem like the launch went over smoothly. Considering stock was limited enough that most couldn’t even find the card in stock, it’s also a bit insulting to the average customers that attempted to grab a card.
AMD was asked about this directly in an AMA on Reddit shortly after the release, to which the individual answering questions on behalf of AMD gave no response.
At the end of the day, with fans already angrily calling this another paper launch, it’s a bit of a slap in the face to players that are ending the next big release empty handed once again. With so many terrible launches to close out 2020, it’s starting to look like enthusiasts won’t be finishing their fancy new builds until 2021