After the whole debate regarding its GeForce Partner Program, NVIDIA is doing again some ‘shady things.’ The Heise team has just leaked NVIDIA’s new non-disclosure agreement in which the green team clearly states that confidential information must be used solely for the benefit of NVIDIA.
And… well… needless to say that this is as anti-consumer and unethical as it can possibly be. Well done NVIDIA. We also don’t know whether this logic applies to those who receive early GPU samples (meaning that they should post positive opinions/previews when receiving new unreleased GPUs).
The new NDA also imposes 5-year expiration on confidential information and – understandably – mentions that trade secrets should never be talked about. The last one is what you’d expect from any NDA as journalists should not reveal NVIDIA’s secrets. However, those requirements regarding confidential information are seriously anti-consumer as those journalists who sign up this NDA won’t be able to criticize anything confidential information at all.
Those interested can view the whole NDA document below, courtesy of Heise.
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
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This is BS Nvidia. How many times do you have to make an a*s out of yourself before you learn?
I’m waiting for this new move to backfire on Nvidia, same like GPP, in some way or other.
Possibly. I wonder if the Heise site will suffer any repercussions from leaking the Nvidia NDA. If not for them we might never have known about this. Really it makes tech site reporting on Nvidia GPUs questionable because we don’t know which ones signed the NDA. Were you on Videocardz when Nvidia refused to send sample GPUs to them because WhyCry kept leaking info that Nvidia didn’t want them to?
You have a valid point, but I’m not sure whether HEISE will suffer any consequence because of this, but who knows ?
But very few are going to sign this new NDA, in my opinion, because why will any Ad agency/journalist give away his freedom, and signing this NDA means they can’t openly criticize Nvidia as well.
You forgot to factor in that most of the so-called “video game journalists” these days have no moral code or ethical guidelines, and routinely shill out for video game publishers in order to protect their ad revenue.
So, with that in mind, I’d say the question becomes, “who wouldn’t sign this.”
HardOCP didn’t even get a NDA,likely to do with GPP leak
Nvidia makes the best GPUs and is the best company in the world. Now PM me when the GTX 1180 Ti is coming.
best company in the world
You sound like spar1c fagget
I think he’s just being sarcastic, IMO.
i think it’s sarcasm bro
After the GPP stunt backfired, this seems to be a new trick applied by Nvidia. Read this news before on VideoCardz.
Very sad of affairs, —-“where confidential information can be used ‘solely for the benefit of NVIDIA”—–
Unless each and every journalist refuses to sign, Nvidia is the dictator here, or else they have to keep their mouth shut for 5 years.
It seems the freedom of speech and expression has been taken away by journalists. The cancer keeps on spreading…
To quote ‘WhyCry’s comment from VCZ:
“” It’s rather vague sentence, same as trade secrets. If a tech-journalist learns something at a booth during Computex, how could he know if that’s a trade secret. He can’t make a video or post an article, it could be understood as ‘predicting’, which this NDA also prevents “”.
.
In all and complete honesty, I’m so f-cking tired of the absolutely and completely bullsh-t practices Nvidia has been pulling for the last few years.
While there cards are good, their business practices are the definition of awful consumer protection. This whole entire thing about having to force journalists into giving them positive reviews should be a straight FTC violation.
People deserve to know the truth, people deserve to know that Nvidia cards are having problems, people deserve to have the most widely available information to show how these cards functions and operate so they can make informed and concise purchases!
With that said, I sincerely hope AMD gets their graphics card department together and develops something that directly competes with Nvidia’s high end cards for a far cheaper price. Sort of like how AMD smacked down Intel last week(or was it the week before? I forget) with the whole thing about Intel lying to the public about their new CPU running at 5ghz, as if it was stock, only to find out that they used a 3k cooler that used over 1K Watts of power to pull off their little stunt, only to have AMD smack them in the face with a better 32 core processor.
This has been a long day coming for Nvidia. They’re now effectively doing what everybody has been saying for years, which is f-cking the consumer base with lie and deceitful practices.
Well said !
Last few years? Well all I know lot’s of things were more hush-hush at the time then but, the analysis here is quite accurate:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0L3OTZ13Os
This was a great video, thank you for posting it. There’s some juicy information in here about the exact stuff that I despise about the company.
#Fu.kNvidia
lol
Shows just how big of a douche you can be when you have a strangle hold on an entire industry.
Technically Nvidia does not owe any of these journalist any thing. I also do not consider anybody who signs any agreements with anybody a journalist. Product influencers…sounds more legit. Plus so called influencers are trying to make a buck off of Nvidia by piggy backing on their name. I totally understand why Nvidia has set the terms it has. The other option is do not sign it. Be a journalist again instead of an influencer looking for a pay day. See, when you do not take freebies and charge money to go visit a booth to say nice things about some companies product you can be trusted by your viewers/audience. Also, not to mention you can keep your head held high that your reviews/opinions were not influenced by anything other than your bais. Besides, do not be surprised, when you whor3 yourself out that a p1mp lays the smackdown on you eventually. If you need to be the first to get that juicy scoop sign up, sell your soul etc….or you can not sign up and win the adoration of real tech enthusiasts.
>I also do not consider anybody who signs any agreements with anybody a journalist.
Exactly.
Very well written.
”NAZIVIDIA ”
I like that acronym.
now I’m hearing the lion king theme. NAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA…
Unfortunately, Nvidia doesn’t really have competition for the high-end GPUs so they can pull stunts like this and gamers really have no choice but to choose Nvidia if they want the top-tier performance.
can we please stop using the 1 percent of pc users as IF they are the entire freaking pc community .. tnx
A lot of money comes from the top-tier GPU users, though, and even the lower end GPU users strive to get those top cards.
I’m hoping I never have to buy another GPU but if I do I’d prefer to support AMD.
1 percent.. it is meaningless
So according to you only 1% of Gamers use high-end top tier GPUs from Nvidia ?
Yeah… for example the 970 outsold the 980 , 980ti BY A MILE.. people do not buy 1080ti-s / vega 64 in DROVES.. they buy 580/1060
If it was meaningless, Nvidia would make insanely expensive GPUs. The top-tier asserts dominance and projects consumer confidence. The pit crew behind the car that crosses the finish line always gets the most props. People like winners. If all Nvidia had was “the 1%” they wouldn’t be market leaders. And I want AMD to succeed. I don’t like monopolies, but it’s an objective reality that right now Nvidia is putting out the best top-tier hardware and AMD doesn’t have an answer for that, and I don’t think they’re even trying because they know that market is on lockdown.
Nvidia might have the 1%, but they clearly also have a large contingent of the mid-range card owners, too. You don’t own 75% of the market share by catering only to high-end GPU owners.
Nvidia has 64 percent of the market , that is not achieved with high end cards. It is achieved with cards like the 970.. end
High-end cards do more than achieve numerical advantages. It’s a bragging right; a prestige and that ends up directing and influencing people to invest in a brand. People who can’t afford a 1080Ti won’t buy one, but they see that Nvidia has the most powerful single chip GPU and they decide to buy a 970 BECAUSE of their market leadership in that sector.
People like winners and even if they can’t afford the top tier product, they want to associate with that brand. Nvidia hasn’t been the market leader for so many years because they produce mid-tier cards. AMD does that, too.
It’s a psychological advantage. When Nvidia, year after year, can brag they have the most powerful GPUs, people think “Hey, I was on the fence but I think I’ll get that 970. Nvidia is powerful! That 1080Ti is a beast!” They won’t say that verbally but they’re thinking it.
And the cards as the 970 are the winners of the market game.. cards like the vega 64 / ti are meaningless in comparison.. and 90 percent of buyers dont even know or care what we know and care about..
I think you’re very, very naive.
Lol.. I will take sales numbers vs your drivel
This is what happens when you become a monopoly
customers are cucked to buy either from you, or from the half-a$$ed of a “competition” you have
you can implament shady practices and bribe journalists and no one will lift a finger
ugh, i really wanted to grab a 1080TI for Metro Exodus but i really dislike supporting a shameful monopoly like Nvidia
is buying Used cards safe or a big no-no?
“is buying Used cards safe or a big no-no?”
I would be careful on that now that mining isn’t paying well anymore. You have no way of knowing if that 1080 Ti was used for normal gaming or beaten to death in a mining rig. I would ask for the original sales receipt and make sure that the warranty is transferable in case the seller has already registered it in their name.
Basically its like buying a used car…
yeah i’ed rather not gamble and get a FRESH card
ugh, it’s so sad being cucked to Nvidia
i wish we had a third competitor…
We will in 2020 when Intel plans to launch their discrete gaming GPUs. No way to tell what their prices will be right now though.
i wouldn’t put my money on Intel
they never proven themselves with the onboard graphics and
how could they compete with someone as huge as Nivida?
Intel is most likely be a competitor for low-mid range GPU’s
but the high-end GPU’s will still be dominated by Nvidia
alas, i’m a power gamer and SLI support is non-existent for modern developers
so here i sit in quite a pickle, weighing my options so to speak…
To soon to tell right now but I’m under the impression that Intel is serious about this venture. They’ve already lured Koduri on board and the AMD Marketing Director Chris Hook. Intel is far larger than Nvidia financially and they are sitting on tens of billions of dollars in cash. If they pushed hard into the discrete graphics market they could easily come out ahead of Nvidia.
i guess we’ll have to wait and see…
in the meanwhile… i think i’ll just stick to 40 FPS on Exodus
i really don’t wanna give Nvidia shekels for their bad practices
maybe if they commit a huge black friday sale, but since Nvidia has low stocks on the TI’s i feel like we’re not gonna see a significant discount
sigh… but i’ll give you a useful trick how i squeeze every inch of power from my trusty 980TI
shortly before a big hot game comes up, i take the entire RIG for cleaning
through cleaning.
the performance gained with the rig is 100% dust free makes night and day difference when overclocking
and to be frank? aside from Exodus there is literally no worthwhile game out there in 2019
all cash-grabs and annual franchises
is it worth to upgrade for one measly game?
It’s kind of RISKY to buy a second hand used GPU, unless you are 100% sure about the seller’s reputation.
Most importantly the card should also be under “Warranty”, if you plan to purchase one.
But still, the working condition of the GPU/VRM is kind of hard to guess if you are buying the GPU online, via Amazon, Ebay and other websites.
If your friend is selling one, then that’s a different story. You can check and test the card before purchasing it, assuming you both live nearby.
Just my two cents.
why not just wait for next mid range nvidia cards though?you can get 1080ti’s performance for like $400-450 at this point, just wait couple of months.
that depends on nividia if they actually release the new lineup anytime soon
because for now all we have are unconfirmed runors
market is ready for new cards, i’m sure they’re releasing something around august.
why haven’t they announced anything then?
it could be anything but if i was in charge i know i’d try to maximize my profit for christmas. nvidia operates based on old mba books just like majority of corporations in US, it could be anything absurd and silly to something that simply minimizes the risks.
Good grief! who’s running Nvidia, Steve Ballmer?
Huh.
NVIDIA makes the fastest GPUs but their PR department is seriously f’ed up (and a lot of their ‘moves’ do not make a lot of sense). Oh, and JFYI, we’ve already criticized UWP (as well as Game Mode).
Did you read Nvidia’s latest Tweet congratulating the great mathematician/computer scientist “ALAN Turing” ?
Yeap, we all know that Turing is a thing though there is nothing really worth reporting. Same with all the release date rumours regarding 1180 (unless it is from an official source like Jensen’s comment). There are multiple daily rumours about 1180 (pretty sure you all know that the latest rumour suggests that AIBs will receive samples in late August/early September).
It”s not about whether it is worthy reporting or not, but the latest TWEET can be taken seriously, because unlike previous rumors, this seems to be a direct legit response from NVIDIA.
Keep taunting/bashing others….This won’t take you anywhere though.
You have again ignored my point of view.
An NDA has little to nothing to do with a PR department. Its a legal department issue.
check your brain cells before saying that nonsense…
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha, muhahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha, gasps, hahahahahahahahahahaha
what nvidia even doing? why they even need to be anti consumer in 1st place, they dominate the gpu market, they have the better performing cards, PASCAL was really one of the best gpu lineup in nvidia history, you don’t have to force anyone to positive things about your products since they’re the best out there
GPP and now this? it seems that you just want to be in the bad spotlight for no reason
NVIDIA. ..The way it’s meant to be PLAYED !
Edit:
Did anyone actually notice that there are TWO point number 3 listed in this NDA.
3. Use Restrictions.
3. Termination of obligation of confidentiality.
Is that a typo error, or am I missing something ? The next one should have been listed as 4, the fourth point.
Keep taunting/bashing others….This won’t take you anywhere though.
Yea. If i was to do something like that, i’d make sure not to have a single fault in my text.
Who the f checked this before posting ?… (nvidia qc lacking)?
It could be fake. I don’t know but I wonder why it hasn’t been published on ArsTechnica, TechPowerUp and AnandTech. But then again it’s possible that they signed the NDA and felt it was best not to mention it. If it does turn out to be fake then I would think Nvidia will at least deny it’s existence.
NICE CATCH!
Silly Nvidia. They should have made an NDA to prevent journalists from revealing the contents of the document in which they demand that they don’t reveal the contents of their documents.
Scumbag company does scumbag things. Not shocked at all. Prepare for the apoligists who will say this is just fine and we should all shut up about it.
It seems crazy to me that they would think they need such a competitive edge. NVIDIA is miles ahead of AMD tech, and if they release new cards this year they will effectively be a full generation and a half ahead with their top tier cards.
It seems to me that they won’t release anything for a while in order to keep from cannibalizing their own sales. I just wish AMD would step it up and compete in the top tier.
So strange…
This could be a fake news by nvidia, to be debunked afterwards, to dilute the GPP as a conspiracy theory, Why the Hell they would expose themselfes so much on a written paper?
The true GPP agreement is probably verbal by code simbols or whatever…
I also have a feeling that this NDA might be fake, or there is something really fishy about this agreement, imo.
April 2018:
For their next GPU, Nvidia reportedly adopt name of man whose genius helped shorten World War II in Europe and saved many lives in the process.
June 2018:
Nvidia caught using shady propaganda tactics. Goebbels and Stalin would be proud. gg
Claiming Goebbels and Stalin are one and the same is the mistake you’re making.
Poor reading comprehension “is the mistake you’re making”.
So now you’re backtracking with no arguments?
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/db32ca7bfa7852dede944b5de5b0d6d5b08b5528e9371e0c7c5982ed8b873688.jpg
spoiler alert: all of the video game industry does this
this is why gamergate was a thing
People are misunderstanding the infamous “solely for the benefit of NVIDIA” phrase. This is a legal document, that uses law terminology, where “for the benefit” merely means “on behalf of”, it doesn’t have any positive or negative connotation.
This is just your average NDA, nothing out of ordinary really.
Not to be a green boy here as i dont care if its nvidia or AMD all i care is what i get out of what i buy, i have to say that this NDA looks a bit sketchy and considering the credibility of online news these days… ill consider this fake until proven otherwise.
Talk about poor reading comprehension.
youtube reviewers have been doing this for a long time whats the big deal?they run game works with amd cards and dx11 on amd cards vs nvidia cards.i have seen it happen countless times.