AMD withdraws KitGuru FuryX sample over "negative content"

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Michaelius

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On the 11th June AMD informed us via email that the upcoming FIJI hardware was reserved for KitGuru, as would normally be the case. We subsequently set a plan in motion to analyse the hardware for launch and were awaiting the arrival of the sample. Earlier this week I had a call from Christine Brown, Senior Manager, EMEA Communications at AMD to let me know that the company had withdrawn their sample from KitGuru labs and that we would now not be involved at all in the launch next week.

Christine Browne informed me directly on the phone that the reason for withdrawing the sample was based on ‘KitGuru’s negative stance towards AMD’. She said that with limited product they wanted to focus on giving the samples to publications that are ‘more positive’ about AMD as a brand, and company. I was not informed during this call of anything we have published that was factually incorrect, we were also not told to edit or remove any content we had published. Based on what AMD had seen via KitGuru editorial in recent weeks it was felt that overall coverage was just too negative.
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http://www.kitguru.net/site-news/an...-kitguru-fury-x-sample-over-negative-content/

Briliant marketing...
 
Took a stance versus bad review sites.
nvidia does it all the time.
 
Based on what AMD had seen via KitGuru editorial in recent weeks it was felt that overall coverage was just too negative.
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They can spin it any way they want to but, editorials are not news or reviews. They are opinions. So, AMD decided they weren't going to support a site who had an over negative view of the company. I don't blame them. I think TPU should have the same thing done to them with btarunr's crappy editorials of late as well. They are likely too big though.

With that, I don't see any 300 series reviews on TPU. So, who knows???
 
Hmmm so is AMD also going to blacklist any site that has a negative view of their products even if that view is objective and factual? This launch will be very interesting.
 
MangoSeed said:
Hmmm so is AMD also going to blacklist any site that has a negative view of their products even if that view is objective and factual? This launch will be very interesting.
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Note that is not what they told Kitguru. It was because of editorials. Not the same thing.
 
Well I could have waited for Cageymaru but he seems to sometimes forget to post articles that aren't gloryfying AMD cause.
 
Well, it -is- a courtesy for a manufacturer to send FREE samples for review. Courtesy is something that is no longer taught to, or is simply ignored by, many individuals. A free sample does not obligate one to simper and cover it with accolades. It does, however, imply that one should be fair.

Kitguru, and any other site, is welcome to BUY any card available on the marketplace and state their opinions.
 
HeavensCloud said:
If you were releasing a new product would you give the first samples to people that already dislike you to tell consumers about it? This is the way it always is.
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If the product was worth its shit then I would try and win them back.
I guess we know the problem.
 
JustinCorrigible said:
Ah, of course you'd make an anti-AMD thread.

Also, Kitguru is the last place I'd go for a hardware review, let alone "editorials."
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Regardless it's freedom of speech, if AMD cares so much about it's image it should engage properly rather than in an extreme fashion.
 
Relayer said:
They can spin it any way they want to but, editorials are not news or reviews. They are opinions. So, AMD decided they weren't going to support a site who had an over negative view of the company. I don't blame them. I think TPU should have the same thing done to them with btarunr's crappy editorials of late as well. They are likely too big though.

With that, I don't see any 300 series reviews on TPU. So, who knows???
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300 review samples are up to the AIBs to send out. AMD isn't controlling that.

apparently, AMD does have control over Fury samples though.
 
Really can't blame AMD as far as the kitguru site is concerned.

c3k said:
Kitguru, and any other site, is welcome to BUY any card available on the marketplace and state their opinions.
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+1. Happens all the time, doesn't [H] do this for evga PSU units?
 
JustinCorrigible said:
How is what AMD did extreme? They weren't disrespectful to KitGuru.
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No but they were stupid to do it :)
As pointed out above, they can buy a card anyway, its hardly a dent in a sites pocket.
But now there will be more disfavour lol.
Its easy to add a slightly more negative spin while reporting the exact same facts.
 
Agreed. Not giving something for free is about as far from "extreme" as one can get.

Obviously AMD wants favorable reviews. So does Nvidia (that's why they use Gameworks, no?). Given that, and that AMD can control pre-release "gifts", why shouldn't they pick and choose who gets them? Would Nvidia send AMD a gratis copy of their next video card, pre-release?

Edited because I posted too soon: I don't like ANY review sites, for any product, which is based on having a "relationship" with the producer. I think sites/magazines which BUY the product on the market, and have no ads from the producer or wholesalers involved, are the best way to get unbiased information. Barring that, specific benchmarks/gaming tests suffice. Some games favor different brands. If you don't recognize that, and filter the results accordingly, you're not an educated consumer. This is a complex subject. Regardless, no one has a right to free samples.
 
Obviously some people in this thread just don't get it

you have entity A that talks crap about your company

you have entity B that does not

you have limited product so who are you going to send it to again?

I am pretty sure this is what got them into hot water

http://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/zardon/amd-fiji-hbm-and-product-rebadging/

I took a little time to go through that site and yes they are overly negative of AMD...


There is a difference between being critical of something and being downright negative

I use AMD products and I think they perform great, however I wish AMD would get their focus together and start competing like they MEAN IT. See? not a negative comment at all and yet it says the same thing they said (they wish AMD would compete)
 
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Michaelius said:
http://www.kitguru.net/site-news/an...-kitguru-fury-x-sample-over-negative-content/

On the 11th June AMD informed us via email that the upcoming FIJI hardware was reserved for KitGuru, as would normally be the case. We subsequently set a plan in motion to analyse the hardware for launch and were awaiting the arrival of the sample. Earlier this week I had a call from Christine Brown, Senior Manager, EMEA Communications at AMD to let me know that the company had withdrawn their sample from KitGuru labs and that we would now not be involved at all in the launch next week.

Christine Browne informed me directly on the phone that the reason for withdrawing the sample was based on ‘KitGuru’s negative stance towards AMD’. She said that with limited product they wanted to focus on giving the samples to publications that are ‘more positive’ about AMD as a brand, and company. I was not informed during this call of anything we have published that was factually incorrect, we were also not told to edit or remove any content we had published. Based on what AMD had seen via KitGuru editorial in recent weeks it was felt that overall coverage was just too negative.

Briliant marketing...
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This is also a smear towards websites that do get samples. But then again this piece was just to stir more shit.

On a brighter note, we currently still have the full support of AMD partners and will aim to deliver content on the new hardware, as soon as possible.
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Hatchet job delayed but still incoming.
 
madgun said:
Regardless it's freedom of speech, if AMD cares so much about it's image it should engage properly rather than in an extreme fashion.
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AMD didn't attack KitGuru's freedom of speech at all, and went as far as to explicitly tell them NOT to edit or remove any past content. AMD is well within it's rights to not send free stuff to publications they don't like.
 
YeuEmMaiMai said:
Obviously some people in this thread just don't get it

you have entity A that talks crap about your company

you have entity B that does not

you have limited product so who are you going to send it to again?

I am pretty sure this is what got them into hot water

http://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/zardon/amd-fiji-hbm-and-product-rebadging/

I took a little time to go through that site and yes they are overly negative of AMD...


There is a difference between being critical of something and being downright negative

I use AMD products and I think they perform great, however I wish AMD would get their focus together and start competing like they MEAN IT. See? not a negative comment at all and yet it says the same thing they said (they wish AMD would compete)
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If thats all it was about then AMD needs to seriously man up.
All they did was report the truth and how it affected them.
They want to report good things but were sceptical because of previous launch issues.
And they were bang on, the only card that might be exciting is a Fiji.
The 390x isnt worth buying unless you want 2 of them for 4K but not on a TV.
Even then you can get 2x 290x and overclock them yourself for better value.

Instead of learning something from this, AMD stuck their 2 fingers up.
They deserve any attitude now.
 
I hope the [H] is still getting their "samples" to review. They always go into the most detail that other sites and places just don't go into.
 
Nenu said:
If thats all it was about then AMD needs to seriously man up.
All they did was report the truth and how it affected them.
They want to report good things but were sceptical because of previous launch issues.
And they were bang on, the only card that might be exciting is a Fiji.
The 390x isnt worth buying unless you want 2 of them for 4K but not on a TV.
Even then you can get 2x 290x and overclock them yourself for better value.

Instead of learning something from this, AMD stuck their 2 fingers up.
They deserve any attitude now.
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no, people need to learn that when you constantly harp on an entity, that entity may be inclined not to send you things to review... actions have consequences....
 
A pity that KitGuru forgot to mention, that they also broke few NDAs with AMD... guess you never say that part of story, that actually shows you are not superhero boyscout.
 
YeuEmMaiMai said:
no, people need to learn that when you constantly harp on an entity, that entity may be inclined not to send you things to review... actions have consequences....
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AMD shouldnt have acted in a manner that made KitGuru need to bring it up.
They did exactly the right thing to bring it to our attention as that is the only way a company trying to dictate is made to listen.

AMD have shot themselves in the foot again though by demonstrating that they will only support sites that will put a positive spin on products that dont fully deserve it.
The truth isnt allowed!

Take this review of the 380 8GB for example.
http://www.bjorn3d.com/2015/06/msi-r9-390-gaming-8g-amd-300-series-with-a-custom-kick-from-msi/
What an absolute crock of shite review.
They show it taking on and actually beating 980s in a few games lol.
Most other reviews put it the class of an overclocked 960.
That must have been some backhander Bjorn3D took!

Another review of the 4GB 380 pitted it against mostly 2GB cards at 1440p and 4K lol.
 
As long as [H] ardOCP gets their review sample I'm happy.

Particularly curious to see GTA5 performance since AMD mysteriously left it out of their 4K benches and it's only the biggest release of the year. Makes me wonder if the 4GB is a limiting factor in that game at 4K. I'm sure all will be revealed and [H] won't pull any punches!
 
6/1/15 AMD Executive Meeting
(I figure it went down a little something like this...)

Financial Suit: So...shit. NVIDIA just put out a card just slightly less performing than the Titan X for $650. We were totally going to charge $850 for Fury and rape their asses, but now we've got to compete with 980 Ti instead. Alright, marketing, time to tighten your belts. Your allocation for review samples is now cut in half.

Marketing Suit: Alright, so that leaves us with all of our fanboi sites and a few left to distribute to sites who use testing methods that will show us in a better light. We'll wait until late next week to send out the notices to the sites that are no longer going to be receiving cards to mitigate the fallout.
 
xIronCrossx said:
It even says 390 in the url...did you even read it before getting so angry?
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My bad, the link was taken from [H] front page.
It said 380 8GB.

Even so, its way out of line so my comments stand.

ps dont mistake annoyance for anger :p
 
Noob!!!! :p

Seriously though never just look at one review, always check multiple ones. If you just check one review site you'll never get the whole picture.
 
Parja said:
6/1/15 AMD Executive Meeting
(I figure it went down a little something like this...)

Financial Suit: So...shit. NVIDIA just put out a card just slightly less performing than the Titan X for $650. We were totally going to charge $850 for Fury and rape their asses, but now we've got to compete with 980 Ti instead. Alright, marketing, time to tighten your belts. Your allocation for review samples is now cut in half.

Marketing Suit: Alright, so that leaves us with all of our fanboi sites and a few left to distribute to sites who use testing methods that will show us in a better light. We'll wait until late next week to send out the notices to the sites that are no longer going to be receiving cards to mitigate the fallout.
Click to expand...

You joke but I would be curious to know what they originally intended to price the Fury X at, had the 980Ti not come along yet. Can't imagine that $650 for a flagship with the liquid cooler and radiator is what they had in mind.
 
xIronCrossx said:
Noob!!!! :p

Seriously though never just look at one review, always check multiple ones. If you just check one review site you'll never get the whole picture.
Click to expand...
:p

My comment was to demonstrate that some sites look like they have been bought or coerced
I am not uncertain about the real performance.
 
Kitguru was notified on June 11th they would be receiving a Fury X sample, but not a 300-series sample (or maybe they already knew).

A day later, they posted this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFWgc8qjQwk

A few days after that, AMD pulls their sample.
I haven't watched the video but I'm guessing he says things he shouldn't be saying, IE: NDA related. Or maybe it was just really unprofessional.

So going by that timeline of events this has nothing to do with "Nvidia bias".
 
I think this is a case of AMD providing too much explanation. Should have just denied the sample and left it at that.
 
frunction said:
I think this is a case of AMD providing too much explanation. Should have just denied the sample and left it at that.
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Exactly, AMD should have just said, we have limited number of samples available and you didn't make the cut sorry. And end it there. No need to explain anything else. Now no matter what it looks bad for AMD PR wise.
 
frunction said:
I think this is a case of AMD providing too much explanation. Should have just denied the sample and left it at that.
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They didn't mention Anti-AMD bias when they called eTeknix.
So either Kitguru is being singled out, or the author is fluffing his article. :confused:

eTeknix isn't getting a Fury X because AMD claims to not have enough review samples.
All of EU is only getting 10 units.
 
TaintedSquirrel said:
They didn't mention Anti-AMD bias when they called eTeknix.
So either Kitguru is being singled out, or the author is fluffing his article. :confused:

eTeknix isn't getting a Fury X because AMD claims to not have enough review samples.
All of EU is only getting 10 units.
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That doesn't sound too promising for buying one next week. Unless AMD feels there's just too many review sites out there these days requesting samples.
 
the number of reviews samples doesnt really have a bearing on reatil availability.
 
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