Nvidia announces an end to the GeForce Partner Program (GPP)-- an program encouraging vendors to produce machines running solely on Nvidia hardware-- just two months after the initial announcement.
A terse statement from the company simply reads “the rumors, conjecture and mistruths go far beyond [the GPP’s] intent. Rather than battling misinformation, we have decided to cancel the program.” Nvidia adds ending the program allows it to "avoid any distraction from the super exciting work we’re doing to bring amazing advances to PC gaming.” Further information, such as whether the announcement affects other Nvidia partner programs, is not available.
The GPP was described by many as divisive. First announced back in March 2018, it was poorly detailed by the company, leading to plenty of gossip and rumour. Essentially it demanded all GeForce-aligned PC and notebook brands were well and truly GeForce-aligned, forcing vendors to rebrand machines running on AMD hardware. In addition, vendors refusing to follow Nvidia rules would risk not being included in marketing efforts, if not lose out on upcoming GPU inventory.
While short-lived, the program has already lead to the launch of AMD-specific brands-- for instance, Asus started selling AMD Radeon GPUs under a new sub-brand, "Arez." According to a report by HardOCP, this was the result of the Republic of Gamers (ROG) line becoming a GeForce Partner brand, and Nvidia demands for the exclusion of AMD Radeon products from the popular gaming brand.
In the meantime, disgruntled customers across both the US and Europe stated contacting the relevant anti-monopoly authorities, namely the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the European Commission (EC). Wccftech reports both FTC and EC started looking into the program, bringing to mind investigations into the similarly anti-competitive and anti-consumer practices of Intel of the early 2000s.
So, what next for Nvidia? In the short term, one can expect a return to the GPU status quo. As for the long term, it depends on whether Nvidia or AMD decide to try their luck on another take on the partner program.
Go GeForce Partner Program Impacts Consumer Choice (HardOCP)
Go FTC & EU Commission Zero in on Nvidia GPP Calls for Investigation & Complaints (Wccftech)
