For the first time in nearly three decades, Nvidia is absent from the graphics card scene and refuses to launch a new generation of its gaming-oriented graphics cards, preferring to focus on the artificial intelligence data center and dedicated chips sector, according to a report by the American tech site "XDA".
While Nvidia's decision, now one of the richest companies in the world and part of the trillion-dollar club, seems economically logical, its consequences extend beyond just the company's stocks and profits, affecting a broad sector of users who have contributed to the company’s success and stood by it at a time when it was unknown.
This decision represents a direct abandonment of the gamers' sector, who are waiting for the new technologies Nvidia introduces annually in its graphics cards, which have pushed the gaming industry forward and enabled companies to present impressive graphical levels in their games.
Thanks to Nvidia, which almost went bankrupt in 1999 and had to lay off a significant part of its staff then to be able to launch its most prominent graphics card "GeForce 256", which gamers around the world raced to acquire, significantly boosting the company's profits and sales.
Expected Choice
Greg Miller, co-founder and host of the "Kinda Funny Game Daily" podcast, in an interview with "CNBC," said: "I understand why they have to do it, but it's sad," referring to Nvidia's decision to focus on artificial intelligence chips.
The report indicates that Nvidia's profits last year from computing and cloud services reached about 70% compared to 40% in the consumer products sector, making focusing on industrial and commercial sectors more profitable for the company.
While there are no clear official prices for the company’s artificial intelligence chips, "CNBC" estimates that the price of the "Blackwell" chip, which belongs to the previous generation of artificial intelligence technologies, reaches about $40,000, with expectations that the price of the newer "Vera Rubin" chip will exceed $4 million, compared to $2,000 for the company’s most expensive gaming cards.
Therefore, Nvidia's management decided to reduce the production of gaming-oriented graphics cards by 40% compared to previous production, confirming the company's intention to abandon the new generation of consumer chips.
The random access memory crisis also contributed significantly to Nvidia's decision, as the memories are needed for both gamers' cards and artificial intelligence cards.
A Dark Future for Gaming Technologies
While it cannot be said that Nvidia is the only company in the gaming and cards sector, it was the force that drove this industry forward due to the significant performance gap between its cards and the cards of "AMD", its biggest competitor, as well as the difference between the capabilities of computers that use graphics cards compared to gaming platforms.
Thus, players were always looking for Nvidia cards to run the latest games well, and companies competed with each other and raced to present technologies that leverage these cards' capabilities.
But without the presence of Nvidia cards, which have been the driving force pushing gaming graphics technologies forward, companies will be forced to stick to the existing technologies and current capabilities of gaming platforms and cards.
This means that we will not see a technological leap similar to the use of ray tracing technologies or advanced shadow techniques that Nvidia offered in its cards.
The absence of Nvidia cards from the scene may delay the launch of the next generation of home gaming consoles like the "PlayStation 6" which was planned for the coming years, as "PlayStation 5" currently has the technical capability to run games that operate on current Nvidia cards.
It is also expected that we will see an increase in demand for the currently available cards and a rise in their prices due to increased demand and limited supply as the company cuts its production by 40% from its total capacity.
This makes us wonder, does the absence of Nvidia spell the death of the computer gaming sector? Or will another company repeat Nvidia's success story and rise from nothing with players standing behind it?
