PC enthusiasts criticized Nvidia for its poor RTX 3080 launch. The outcry on social media came after the units get sold out in minutes.
Nvidia publicly apologized for the RTX 3080 launch hiccup. The much-hyped graphics card went on sale last September 17, but all products immediately went out.
According to Nvidia’s statement, “W expected the best ever demand the RTX 30-series, but the enthusiasm was overwhelming. We were not prepared for this level, nor were our partners.”
“We apologize for this,” Nvidia said.
What happened during the launch date?
The RTX 3080 is one of the best price-to-performance video card available to date. Thus, all PC gamers want to get their hands on one.
However, Nvidia admitted the unprecedented demand for the new RTX cards was. The company said that it underestimated the number and came unprepared.
According to the company, more than 50 retailers experienced website traffic that is exceeded Black Friday sales.
The huge turnout caused crashes, delays, and presumably checkout issues for several customers.
“We knew the GeForce RTX 3080 would be popular, but none of us expected that much traffic on the first day,” said Nvidia.
Are there enough RTX 3080 stocks right now?
Nvidia said that the in-demand graphics card is currently in full production. The company shipped the graphics card last August with increasing supplies every week.
Moreover, third-party manufacturers such as EVGA, ASUS, MSI, and Gigabyte are already ramping up their production. EVGA committed to restocking the video cards soon.
The EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 XC3 cards are sold out for today at https://t.co/JmsKE49Gj5. We are working on getting more stock ASAP, thanks everyone for your patience.
— EVGA (@TEAMEVGA) September 21, 2020
“We understand that many gamers are unable to buy a GeForce RTX 3080 right now and we are doing everything we can to catch up quickly,” Nvidia assured its users.
Nvidia getting ready to combat bots
Whenever a popular product launches, scalpers use bots and scripts to quickly buy stocks at its SRP. These scalpers then list their units on eBay, Craigslist, or Facebook Marketplace in order to sell it at a higher price.
But, Nvidia is changing how its online store works.
The company mentioned that it is moving the store to a different environment. It is also increasing its capacity with added bot protection.
A new code is also added to work efficiently depending on the server load. Captcha might be cliche, but it works to prevent bots from buying rapidly.
It also implemented additional security on its store APIs. Nvidia added that there are “more efforts” underway.
Customers have also criticized why Nvidia does not have any preventive measures in the first place.
Nvidia stated that its online stores indeed have security measures in it. However, bots and scalpers are on the rise due to the huge number of customers.
“This is the first time that we have seen bots at this scale and sophistication,” said Nvidia.
Nvidia is canceling bot and script orders
Bots might checkout the unit first. But the company is monitoring legitimate orders from bot purchases.
“While individuals using bots may have shown images of email inboxes filled with confirmed orders, Nvidia has canceled hundreds of orders manually before they were able to ship.” said the company.
Other manufacturers are doing the same. EVGA, for instance, is reviewing all orders. It will reject any detected bot and script orders.
Important note: We are hand reviewing all EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 orders, any orders that are taken from "bots" will be rejected.
— EVGA (@TEAMEVGA) September 21, 2020
The Nvidia RTX 3080 is restocking soon. Excited gamers must wait a little bit more before stocks normalize.
Featured image used courtesy of Nvidia