Where AREZ Thou, GPP? ASUS 180's, Announces ROG Branding is Here to Stay

[Raevenlord]

Well, if doubts ever existed, those have been somewhat dispelled in recent times, but this must be the final nail in the GPP coffin. Hopefully, it's also the proverbial nail to show customers Green, Red and Blue (seldom-remembered Intel was also a target) of what exactly NVIDIA's program entailed. NVIDIA found itself in a rather embattled field against tech publications and consumers alike when the first match was lit on what GPP was and what it forced NVIDIA partners to do with their brands. Turns out exclusively aligning them with NVIDIA products would give incredibly relevant advantages compared to partners who didn't, forcing an otherwise healthy ecosystem to converge on the dominant market player.

After around two months of story coverage, NVIDIA terminated the GPP program - begrudgingly so, and seemingly forgetting everything about the way things are meant to be played. However, some AMD partners had already announced some exclusive AMD-branded graphics cards, with new, market recognition-absent brands such as ASUS's AREZ and (it all seems to point that way) MSI's MECH 2 series of graphics cards. What were they to do in the wake of GPP's earlier-than-expected burial? These companies spent marketing and design funds to come up with new brands and designs, after all.



UPDATE (22/05): ASUS informed us that the tweet which was the basis of the original report is not operated by ASUS. The company stated that it will continue to sell ASUS ROG and AREZ branded graphics cards side-by-side. ASUS is in the process of getting Twitter to take down the impersonating handle.



ASUS, for one, seems to have decided to bite the bullet on the funds devoted to the creation of the AREZ brand, declaring them lost in the process of reuniting its gaming brand under the ROG banner. But ASUS, having been a GPP partner (well, there's no way they weren't, right?), couldn't make a big story out of this: publicity on the GPP program is bad publicity, after all. As such, the company announced on its AREZ Twitter, at 9.50 PM of last Saturday, that the AREZ brand was coming to an end, with ROG being there to stay. This message slipped the radar until now since, well - AREZ really only had some 129 followers at the time of the tweet. Which just really goes to show how NVIDIA's ploy might have worked in muscling out market recognition of some of its competition's products.



So much for AREZ, then. Thankfully, we barely even knew you.

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[Vayra86]

Wow. This is some royal clusterf-- to be honest. Perhaps Nvidia just tested the conscience of the market. And boy did they succeed. And get damaged in the process. What's that line again... oh

Karma is a bitch

 

[D1RTYD1Z619]

Wow. This is some royal clusterf-- to be honest. Perhaps Nvidia just tested the conscience of the market. And boy did they succeed. And get damaged in the process. What's that line again... oh

Karma is a bitch

Actually the line is:
"Karma the way it's meant to be paid"

 

[Durvelle27]

I had a feeling this was going to happen. To much negative pr having Arez AMD and Rog Nvidia.

 

[DRDNA]

well I guess there it is to all the NAY sayers....

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

well I guess there it is to all the NAY sayers....

Should amply display to anyone and everyone the true power the buying public has, it spoke and for a change the industry listened.
It's all positive except for the tarnish it's thrown at AMD cards already, and intel.
The next bout of shenanigans is already in the wings i here and it's team blue this time.
What an indistry eh.

 

[HimymCZe]

#AREZ is coming to an end, #ROG is here to stay.
..., but your head-on zerg-rush into ILLEGAL MONOPOLY practices are DULY NOTELY.

 

[Hood]

The influence of branding is powerful, but must be subtle and voluntary, not forced, or the buying public takes a stand. So far, though, I don't hear any threats of boycotting nvidia. They took a shot, it back-fired, but you can't really damage a reputation like theirs much, everyone already thinks they're evil, but have the best available GPUs.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

I like how Nvidia said they canned the GPP program because the community was spreading too much misinformation but the truth is, Nvidia never bothered to disclose or explain in depth how the GPP would work anyway.

They got caught with their pants down the same way peoples moms accidently walk in on their kids jerkin off in the bedroom. Nvidia got caught jerkin off...

 

[Fluffmeister]

I course ROG is here to stay, they will be more than happy to sell everyone their shiny expensive ASUS ROG GTX 1180 in due course.

 

[renz496]

Hmm they some said this tweet is not officially from Asus?

 

[Dammeron]

I like how Nvidia said they canned the GPP program because the community was spreading too much misinformation but the truth is, Nvidia never bothered to disclose or explain in depth how the GPP would work anyway.

They got caught with their pants down the same way peoples moms accidently walk in on their kids jerkin off in the bedroom. Nvidia got caught jerkin off...

nV discarded GPP cause of Dell, HP and Apple, which didn't want to join and those 3 are big shots in the OEM market, especially Dell with it's Alienware brand. Community voice had nothing to do with it.

In the end Asus and MSI got their asses kicked for being too quick to jump in. All the money spent on new branding went down the drain.

 

[Flanker]

According to a friend who works at ASUS, their marketing strategy has always been messier than a dog's bedtime snack.

nV discarded GPP cause of Dell, HP and Apple

Not surprised about Apple, when's the last time we saw an NV chip in their products

 

[FreedomEclipse]

nV discarded GPP cause of Dell, HP and Apple, which didn't want to join and those 3 are big shots in the OEM market, especially Dell with it's Alienware brand. Community voice had nothing to do with it.

In the end Asus and MSI got their asses kicked for being too quick to jump in. All the money spent on new branding went down the drain.

I think community voice very much had some effect. JayTwoCents and Gamers Nexus and possibly even Linus from LTT were all talking about it and telling viewers how it would of been a bad thing. Im sure there were a few more youtubers out there who were voicing their opinions about it too.

 

[Caring1]

ROG used to stand for quality gaming products at a premium price, now it is nothing more than marketing a brand name at stupid prices.

 

[Space Lynx]

Now if AMD can only give me a Vega 2 that competes with 1080 ti 15 months ago.... oh wait... I love the red team, but I also love high rez high refresh gaming... soo....

 

[erek]

Where they any ASUS AREZ cards ever released yet?

 

[Durvelle27]

Where they any ASUS AREZ cards ever released yet?

There was a Arez RX 580

 

[eidairaman1]

They will just change the stickers on the box

 

[Vayra86]

They will just change the stickers on the box

Lots of people buy stickers before they even look at the product.

 

[I No]

Lots of people buy stickers before they even look at the product.

Not really. The ones that know a little about this stuff don't go for the stickers and the ones that don't usually go with what the sales rep recommends or know someone who knows a bit about the subject.
People buy the chips usually not the implementations. I for one never heard of anybody saying "I'm buying ROG" but I do hear them say "I'm going to get a 1080" for example.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

I wouldn't be surprised if Asus's rapid dumping of AREZ is Asus's way of sticking it to NVIDIA. Why? Any regulator/lawyer/judge looking at AREZ can't miss the evidence NVIDIA twisted arms. Asus didn't want to make it, NVIDIA made them make it, and the moment NVIDIA retracted GPP, Asus buried AREZ. That's a causation.

Asus isn't going to go on the record against NVIDIA for fear of losing access to GeForce chips; however, ending AREZ is the strongest message Asus could send without burning bridges.

nV discarded GPP cause of Dell, HP and Apple, which didn't want to join and those 3 are big shots in the OEM market, especially Dell with it's Alienware brand. Community voice had nothing to do with it.

I wouldn't be surprised if NVIDIA received investigation compliance orders from the Federal Trade Commission and/or European Union Commission. At that point, it was clear to them that their quiet strong arming tactic was caught by the all-seeing eye. The gig was up. If they didn't shut it down immediately, the damages they're going to have to pay down the road would continue to mount. We're talking hundreds of millions of dollars at minimum. It's going to be the biggest fine NVIDIA has paid to date. FTC's fine may end up going to the wounded parties like Asus and MSI.

 

[Vya Domus]

We're talking hundreds of millions of dollars at minimum. It's going to be the biggest fine NVIDIA has paid to date. FTC's fine may end up going to the wounded parties like Asus and MSI.

I am led to believe none of that would have happened , remember that technically to this date not even Intel has been held accountable for something that's considerably worse as they won a retrial. And that wasn't even FTC's doing.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

I am led to believe none of that would have happened , remember that technically to this date not even Intel has been held accountable for something that's considerably worse as they won a retrial. And that wasn't even FTC's doing.

Because the FTC lays the framework for the wounded party to collect damages (in this case, $1.25 billion). On the other hand, the EU fines to line their own pockets (to the tune of $1.45 billion in this case). When you add legal fees and the lot in, Intel's rebates cost Intel almost $3 billion.

Remember, it was AMD tipping off the press that they smell something fishy in GPP.

 

[Vya Domus]

Remember, it was AMD tipping off the press that they smell something fishy in GPP.

But again , it's not something of the same gravity. What Intel did was essentially the equivalent of straight-up bribery. GPP was an intentionally vague optional program which to my knowledge did not involve any payments of any kind. I really don't see how anyone could turn this into a fine worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Not that I would mind to see something like that but I know it wont happen , at least not on that scale.