cageymaru

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Nvidia has allegedly taken a hard stance against a sponsored streamer and influencer from India for expressing his opinion about preordering hardware. PC Peasants co-hosts Rohin Bhaumik and Archishman "fett" Pradhan were conducting a podcast about the unveiling of the new Nvidia RTX lineup when the subject of preordering came up at the 5 minute and 7 minute mark in the video below. Both discussed getting burned in the past by preordering The Division based on a trade show trailer. Then they gave many reasons why they were against preordering hardware without real world benchmarks by reviewers.

According to Rohin Bhaumik this was considered "improper conduct" and his entire gaming rig he had received as an Nvidia sponsorship had to be returned. When asked why he lost his LG, HyperX and Zotac sponsorships, he responded, "It was a package deal man."

Rohin Bhaumik "They had an issue with what a guest said on my podcast. And I stand by what he said, maybe not the manner in which he said it. This is an attempt to censor and they are welcome to take their toys back."
 
If you want some vendor's free stuff, you need to gobble their johnson and say what they tell you to say. Thats how the game works. And yes, if you pre-order something sight-unseen, no real-world, un-biased reviews, you're a sucker.
 
and thats why i voted NO on kyles poll the other day about NDA for nvidia

there is no good reason to let them have control over your own content


buy the shit at retail, review and post those. It what i want anyways.. reviews on ACTUAL retail shipping hardware

not cherry picked review samples
 
After diving into the details on this, it seems plenty of partnered streamers and YouTubers are saying don't preorder and wait for benchmarks. Miraculously they're all fine. But this guy got dropped by a bunch of companies and now he's playing dumb.

Clearly more to the story.
 
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Absolutely nothing wrong with a sponsor yanking their sponsorship if they feel your words are against brand. Its not censorship at all. They didn't take their channel or block any of their content. NV, LG, HyperX, and Zotac simply took back their equipment they provided for free to the streamers.

If you want to be sponsored, and get free shit, it comes with rules. Sponsors pulling equipment/support due to what the sponsored person/entity says is not new. Its called business. Don't like toe the line then don't accept a sponsorship!

With regard to the content said, I don't disagree. No benchmarks, no pre-order. I do disagree with how some of it was said. Fett was disrespectful in how he addressed his concerns.

I stopped pre-ordering anything without a full review. Hardware, I wait for Kyle and Brent to review before I buy anything. I definitely agree some of their comments on price too. I am all for pay to play for halo/top tier cards but their jacking up the price this gen doesn't seem to make sense.

I think the sponsors had a bigger problem with how both kind of shit on NV and not just because they said don't pre-order.
 
Absolutely nothing wrong with a sponsor yanking their sponsorship if they feel your words are against brand. Its not censorship at all. They didn't take their channel or block any of their content. NV, LG, HyperX, and Zotac simply took back their equipment they provided for free to the streamers.

If you want to be sponsored, and get free shit, it comes with rules. Sponsors pulling equipment/support due to what the sponsored person/entity says is not new. Its called business. Don't like toe the line then don't accept a sponsorship!

With regard to the content said, I don't disagree. No benchmarks, no pre-order. I do disagree with how some of it was said. Fett was disrespectful in how he addressed his concerns.

I stopped pre-ordering anything without a full review. Hardware, I wait for Kyle and Brent to review before I buy anything. I definitely agree some of their comments on price too. I am all for pay to play for halo/top tier cards but their jacking up the price this gen doesn't seem to make sense.

I think the sponsors had a bigger problem with how both kind of shit on NV and not just because they said don't pre-order.

Yanking someone's sponsorship for disagreeing about preordering hardware still seems a little excessive though. That's not bad mouthing the hardware itself at all, not preordering in general is just the SMART thing to do.
These companies seem to sliding closer and closer to the anti-consumer side every day. When will it stop? Soon the companies themselves will require them to copy/paste pre-written, glowing, awesome reviews, or revoke sponsorship...
There are a lot of things that can be interpreted to "feel against the brand"...
If you truly have impressive hardware, let 3rd parties prove it...
 
Let's be honest here: you can hardly feel bad for this channel. You're sponsored by a company, you're pretty much expected to sing their praises. Sometimes you're even contractually obligated to do so.

You want to be neutral? Buy your own PC and GPU. Don't get free stuff and then cry because they take it away. I applaud the critical standpoint, so buy a new PC/GPU and be independent. It's not like it's expensive to build a streaming "workstation" these days - a Ryzen 5 2600 with 16gb RAM and a GTX 1060 will be more than up for it.
 
Well I was going to listen to the podcast however it’s over an hour. Anyone find a time stamp for when they talked about preordering?

Also JayzTwoCents told people not to preorder and he will still get review cards:



Being sponsored by Nvidia is different though, Nvidia is basically paying you to promote for them.
 
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After diving into the details on this, it seems plenty of partnered streamers and YouTubers are saying don't preorder and wait for benchmarks. Miraculously they're all fine. But this guy got dropped by a bunch of companies and now he's playing dumb.

Clearly more to the story.
Bigger youtubers are probably more immune to this.... You think Nvidia would pull products from Linus, GamersNexus, HWUB or Jayz? A small Indian channel is an easy target.
As for the rest of the companies, it sounds like it was a bundled sponsorship through Nvidia. The other companies could've pulled their products at Nvidia's behest.

If you think he did something else wrong to warrant a blanket product repeal then you gotta provide proof or something.
 
Bigger youtubers are probably more immune to this.... You think Nvidia would pull products from Linus, GamersNexus, HWUB or Jayz? A small Indian channel is an easy target.
As for the rest of the companies, it sounds like it was a bundled sponsorship through Nvidia. The other companies could've pulled their products at Nvidia's behest.

Yeah, the way Nvidia has been behaving the past few years has made me less eager to give them the benefit of the doubt, but who knows. Hopefully the truth comes out. Even if Nvidia is innocent on this one, there is still plenty to be pissed at them for.
 
Preordering fiasco have been even more common in the last 2 years.
Ryzen's launch was plagued by horrific preorders because of how tight-lipped AMD was about the memory compatibility. We don't even know if the RTX series has some compatibility issues etc as they haven't even been out to reviewers.

Preordering games has even become more iffy as has been seen with the likes of Mass Effect. I pretty much preorder music and movies that I know I will want regardless and that's about it at this point.
 
Yeah, don't sign that nda.
Nvidia has allegedly taken a hard stance against a sponsored streamer and influencer from India for expressing his opinion about preordering hardware. PC Peasants co-hosts Rohin Bhaumik and Archishman "fett" Pradhan were conducting a podcast about the unveiling of the new Nvidia RTX lineup when the subject of preordering came up at the 5 minute and 7 minute mark in the video below. Both discussed getting burned in the past by preordering The Division based on a trade show trailer. Then they gave many reasons why they were against preordering hardware without real world benchmarks by reviewers.

According to Rohin Bhaumik this was considered "improper conduct" and his entire gaming rig he had received as an Nvidia sponsorship had to be returned. When asked why he lost his LG, HyperX and Zotac sponsorships, he responded, "It was a package deal man."

Rohin Bhaumik "They had an issue with what a guest said on my podcast. And I stand by what he said, maybe not the manner in which he said it. This is an attempt to censor and they are welcome to take their toys back."
 
If you think he did something else wrong to warrant a blanket product repeal then you gotta provide proof or something.
Me no care, the burden of proof is on the guy making the claim. He's been asked to provide proof of whatever notification he supposedly received from Nvidia or anyone else. He hasnt.

So far all we have is a smalltime streamer in india with a big claim while nvidia is the hot topic. People have done worse things to attempt to gain attention for their stream or channel.
 
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Me no care. So far all we have is the word of some dude in India claiming ''nvidia cancelled me u gais". People have suggested he posts proof of whatever notification he supposedly got in writing. He hasn't.

A cursory glance at reddit indicates there's probably more to the story. Knock yourself out.

That's some level of vitriol for a seemingly benign response to what nVidia did.

What do the reddits say? I saw one thread on PCMR that just says "there's probably more to the story", which is about as helpful as your "probably more to the story" statement. Maybe I looked at the wrong thread?
 
Moral of this story.

When any review / podcast / video thingy says brought to you by... sponsored by... with consideration from.

Just shut it off. Its pure marketing spew. Might as well just read the press releases direct.

Its too a point where I'm not sure you can even trust reviews from folks that have signed NDAs anymore. No one wants their meal ticket cut off... how critical will people really be when companies like NV pull support for such minor BS.
 
Maybe because it's not so much a matter of being concerned about the end user, but more so the shareholder.
 
Well I was going to listen to the podcast however it’s over an hour. Anyone find a time stamp for when they talked about preordering?

Also JayzTwoCents told people not to preorder and he will still get review cards:



Being sponsored by Nvidia is different though, Nvidia is basically paying you to promote for them.



He is an editor - This guy is a sponsored streamer.

You guys know people sponsor these guys to help them sell products right?
 
My GTX 1070 may be my last Nvidia card.

If I were content with mid-range cards, I'd say the same.

I'm trying to hit 4k60hz Ultra though, and AMD just doesn't have anything that will work for me right now.

I hope some day their Radeon brand will have a similar comeback as the CPU division has had with Ryzen.
 
Moral of this story.

When any review / podcast / video thingy says brought to you by... sponsored by... with consideration from.

Just shut it off. Its pure marketing spew. Might as well just read the press releases direct.

Its too a point where I'm not sure you can even trust reviews from folks that have signed NDAs anymore. No one wants their meal ticket cut off... how critical will people really be when companies like NV pull support for such minor BS.
You know what's really scary? These people are called "influencers"... Like, officially. That's their name. It's not even a secret either, Nvidia uses it publicly all the time.
 
Battlefield 3 was the last game I preordered and the last hardware I preordered was my PlayStation 2. The only reason I preordered my PS2 is that I didn't want to wait 6-8 months to receive my hardware. I have never preorderd any PC hardware as I can wait a week or 2 for availability.
 
You know what's really scary? These people are called "influencers"... Like, officially. That's their name. It's not even a secret either, Nvidia uses it publicly all the time.

It's not all that unusual in many industries. Sounds, Lighting, and Video companies do this all the time. The "influencers" are people that sell their name as a brand, and use it to promote products. It's not much different than celebrity endorsements.

If this guy had that kind of arrangement, and was telling people to hold off buying nvidia product, that would most likely be a breach of contract.
 
Dont see much issue with this. Being sponsored is being sponsored. If a crappy kitchen knife company is sponsoring me to sell their crappy kitchen knife then you better believe that, on video, this crappy knife is the very best tomato cutter there ever was!
 
How much does it matter that it was the guest, and not the guy running the stream, that made the comments re: preordering? Do guest voices also need to self-censor over their host's predicated sponsorships?
 
That's some level of vitriol for a seemingly benign response to what nVidia did.

What do the reddits say? I saw one thread on PCMR that just says "there's probably more to the story", which is about as helpful as your "probably more to the story" statement. Maybe I looked at the wrong thread?

Again, its the "what nvidia did" part that's problematic here. We don't know what that means and he's been asked to provide proof of whatever notification he received from Nvidia, or whomever. So far nothing.

Was it some local shop in India running the sponsorship arrangements where the call was made? We don't know. The headline makes it sound like Nvidia corporate would actually have awareness of some obscure foreign streamer, which seems unlikely.

Call me skeptical but the publicity stunts and FUD that streamers, YouTubers and Instagram stars engage in to increase visibility, followers and subs is commonplace these days.
 
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You know what's really scary? These people are called "influencers"... Like, officially. That's their name. It's not even a secret either, Nvidia uses it publicly all the time.

Have you never heard of a sponsorship?

If I have a product on a streamers page, they are an influencer. Shit ton of people watch that streamer and people buy stuff because he uses it.


Are people taking fucking crazy pills in here?
 
and thats why i voted NO on kyles poll the other day about NDA for nvidia

there is no good reason to let them have control over your own content


buy the shit at retail, review and post those. It what i want anyways.. reviews on ACTUAL retail shipping hardware

not cherry picked review samples

This just prompted me to vote a clear NO to NDA. I have been on a fence these couple of days. Nice job Nvidia!
 
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Yanking someone's sponsorship for disagreeing about preordering hardware still seems a little excessive though. That's not bad mouthing the hardware itself at all, not preordering in general is just the SMART thing to do.
These companies seem to sliding closer and closer to the anti-consumer side every day. When will it stop? Soon the companies themselves will require them to copy/paste pre-written, glowing, awesome reviews, or revoke sponsorship...
There are a lot of things that can be interpreted to "feel against the brand"...
If you truly have impressive hardware, let 3rd parties prove it...

Again, I said I think it has to do with HOW it was said. Fett made some pretty inappropriate statements and Rohin agreed.

Companies have always done this. ALWAYS! If you are sponsored and you do something the company doesn't like you lose that sponsorship. Its business not charity. Same goes with advertisers. They can be yanked at any time for any reason.

NV and the rest can stop the bad look by saying Rohin's sponsorship was cancelled due to HOW they presented a valid argument. Not the argument itself. Calling pre-purchasers creaming the pants fanboys...while probably valid...is not the best way to present the argument against pre-buying.

That is why other NV sponsored channels that said the same thing, wait for the release/don't prebuy, didn't get yanked.

Rather than play victim, I know its hard in todays culture, Rohin should admit he and Fett screwed up and made inappropriate comments. Not, the big bad wolf is trying to destroy me. The sponsors initially sponsored him for a reason and yanked it for a reason.
 
He was disrespectful towards his sponsor, they yanked his sponsorship. Not surprising. When that kind of thing happens, it usually warranted. Big ado about nothing.

Moral of this story.

When any review / podcast / video thingy says brought to you by... sponsored by... with consideration from.

Just shut it off. Its pure marketing spew...

I think some of the times this is true, but not always.
I've seen a few linus tech tips where he mentions a sponsor and it can be something totally unrelated to what he is covering in the video. "Try Amazon online books free for thirty days with code 'linus' during checkout, links below..." Then do a review on a new LCD.

Hate to break it to you, but sponsorships for content has been around at least since the introduction of Radio. Then TV, with both commercials then gameshows with sponsors giving away prizes (The Price is Right). Do something negative towards your sponsor, well guess what, they will not be a sponsor anymore. The business of sponsoring is to be promoted by your promoter or 'influencer'. Seems pretty obvious that if you can't do that, then the sponsor is going to cease being a sponsor.

"Oh hey guys I got to go back to my 970, waahhh.." I call bullshit on that.. the successful streamers make pretty good money. To imply he is 'hurt', he is also implying that he can't afford better. Probably some bullshit to try and up his paid followers via sympathy.
 
My GTX 1070 may be my last Nvidia card.

AMD needs to kick it into gear. Nvidia has been on a rampage of bad PR moves this past year and I think a lot of people feel the same as you. They seem to be in a "f*** it, don't care" mood with the lack of competition.

If AMD has something on the horizon that was close to 2080 performance, they could nab some marketshare.
 
Moral of this story.

When any review / podcast / video thingy says brought to you by... sponsored by... with consideration from.

Just shut it off. Its pure marketing spew. Might as well just read the press releases direct.

Its too a point where I'm not sure you can even trust reviews from folks that have signed NDAs anymore. No one wants their meal ticket cut off... how critical will people really be when companies like NV pull support for such minor BS.

You realize without the sponsors its unlikely for them to have a show right? How much are you contributing towards podcasts and shows you watch?

I guess the only way you watch a show than is if they have enough supporters on their own without sponsors or they are doing it out of the kindness of their hearts?
 
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