--- title: "Gamers feel forgotten as NVIDIA's latest gaming graphics card production capacity will be reduced by up to 40%" type: "News" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/283236813.md" description: "NVIDIA will reduce gaming graphics card production capacity by up to 40% due to a surge in demand for artificial intelligence. Analysts point out that the gaming business is no longer the company's core growth engine, with revenue mainly coming from AI products. Although NVIDIA states that the player community is important, it may no longer update the consumer-grade GeForce graphics card product line in the future. Players feel disappointed and believe the company should give back to its supporters. The existing GeForce RTX 50 series graphics cards will be released at CES 2025, and players are filled with concerns about the new graphics card launch" datetime: "2026-04-19T01:15:50.000Z" locales: - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/283236813.md) - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/news/283236813.md) - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/283236813.md) --- # Gamers feel forgotten as NVIDIA's latest gaming graphics card production capacity will be reduced by up to 40% For thirty years, unless you were a gamer, NVIDIA was relatively unknown to the public. Today, the wave of artificial intelligence has propelled this chip company to become the highest-valued company in the world, while its original fan base—the gamers—feel increasingly forgotten. Stacey Rasgon, an analyst at Bernstein Research, stated: "The gaming business is no longer the core growth engine of the company; it was undoubtedly so in the past." NVIDIA popularized graphics processing units (GPUs), and it is these chips that provide high frame rates and efficient rendering effects, creating an ultimate gaming experience. When NVIDIA launched its first GPU, the GeForce 256, in 1999, the company underwent massive layoffs and was on the brink of bankruptcy to develop this product. It was the global players who rushed to buy this new processor that pulled NVIDIA back from the edge of death. Now, with the skyrocketing demand for artificial intelligence, nearly all of NVIDIA's revenue comes from AI-related products rather than gaming hardware. At the same time, the production of AI chips has intensified the shortage of memory resources, forcing NVIDIA to make trade-offs in its interests. Given the current situation of memory supply not meeting demand, it is inevitable that NVIDIA prioritizes the more profitable data center AI chips (such as Hopper and Blackwell). In the past three years, the operating profit margin of NVIDIA's computing and networking business segments has averaged 69%, while the profit margin of the gaming graphics card segment aimed at ordinary consumers is only 40%. Greg Miller, co-founder and host of the popular gaming podcast "Kinda Funny Games Daily," expressed in an interview: "I understand they will chase higher profits, but it really breaks my heart. Gamers have built NVIDIA, and they should remember where they came from." If analysts' predictions are accurate, 2026 will be the first time in thirty years that NVIDIA does not update its consumer-grade GeForce graphics card product line. NVIDIA claims that the gamer community is crucial to the company, and the brand continues to innovate, research, and release new technologies for the gaming sector. The currently available GeForce RTX 50 series graphics cards will be launched at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January 2025. With this year's CES and GTC developer conference already concluded, many gamers are worried that there will be no new generation graphics cards released this year; however, NVIDIA has often announced new hardware in September each year. Despite the company's strategic shift, some gamers believe that delaying the iteration of graphics cards is not a bad thing for their consumption budget. Miller's partner, Tim Gettys, stated: "The pace of hardware updates is too fast; ordinary people simply can't keep up, and there's no need to upgrade every year. Slowing down the iteration cycle and waiting for a new generation of products that truly have upgrade value is actually more friendly to gamers." **AI Profits Dominate Revenue** NVIDIA's path to AI dominance began 20 years ago. In 2006, the company launched the CUDA software platform, allowing developers to use GPUs not only for processing graphics but also for general-purpose computing. 2012 is seen as the starting point for the modern explosion of artificial intelligence, as NVIDIA's GPUs and the CUDA architecture built the AlexNet neural network, which crushed competitors in image recognition competitions, gaining fame for its deep learning capabilities NVIDIA has not completely stopped producing gaming graphics cards, but its $7 billion acquisition of high-performance computing chip manufacturer Mellanox Technologies in 2020 marked the company's official shift towards AI-specific chips. Since then, NVIDIA has continued to iterate on high-end AI chips and launched complete AI computing systems, including the brand new Vera Rubin platform (which CNBC exclusively unveiled in February this year). NVIDIA never publicly discloses the prices of its AI chips, but analysts reveal that a single Blackwell AI chip can cost as much as $40,000; Forturum Group estimates that the entire Vera Rubin computing system can cost up to $4 million. In contrast, NVIDIA's consumer-grade RTX 50 series gaming graphics cards are priced between $299 and $1999. During the cryptocurrency bull markets in 2018 and 2021, GPUs were the core hardware for mining, and e-commerce prices were once inflated to three times the official price. After the decline of the mining industry in 2022, prices fell back, but the flagship RTX 5090 graphics card still has an online premium of up to 100%. The demand for the previous generation of products remains strong, which also reduces NVIDIA's motivation to update its next-generation gaming graphics cards. **The core issue is the shortage of video memory** NVIDIA's neglect of the gaming business is primarily due to the shortage of video memory supply. Industry news indicates that due to the severe shortage of GPU general-purpose video memory, NVIDIA plans to reduce the production capacity of its latest gaming graphics cards by up to 40%. Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) provides high-speed temporary data caching for GPUs, supporting parallel computing of chips. Personal computers equipped with gaming graphics cards have become the most severely impacted area in this round of video memory shortages. The rising prices of video memory directly increase the production costs of graphics cards, which are ultimately passed on to consumers. Gartner predicts that global computer prices will rise by 17% this year, while computer shipments will decline by 10.4% year-on-year. Gatiss stated, "Hardware costs are skyrocketing across the board, and there is no sign of a drop in gaming hardware prices, while NVIDIA is clearly leaning towards another customer group, which is quite frustrating." Gartner anticipates that by 2028, the entry-level home PC market will shrink, and NVIDIA's entry-level gaming graphics card market will also contract accordingly. NVIDIA will obviously prioritize its limited video memory inventory for AI chips, which have higher profits and better profit margins. Laskoon analyzed: "The delay in updating and slowing iteration of gaming graphics card routes is largely due to the inability to obtain video memory. Almost all video memory resources on the market are prioritized for AI computing businesses." High-end AI chips like Blackwell and Robinhood are equipped with high-bandwidth memory (HBM). The silicon wafers required to produce 1GB of high-bandwidth memory are four times that of ordinary DRAM memory. This resource tilt has directly led to the depletion of traditional video memory supplies in the consumer electronics and civilian hardware sectors. NVIDIA responded: Currently, the entire GeForce series of graphics cards is still being supplied normally, market demand is stable, and the company is working closely with suppliers to increase video memory supply as much as possible Gatis bluntly stated, "The profit from the AI business is three times that of the gaming business, and shareholder returns have also doubled. Even though the gaming business has made NVIDIA successful, they will gradually abandon the gaming market." **Players: This is nothing short of a slap in the face** At the opening of the keynote speech at NVIDIA's GTC conference in March this year, Jensen Huang did announce significant updates related to gaming, but the player community generally did not buy it. He announced that the new generation of supersampling technology, DLSS 5, would be launched in the fall. DLSS originally relied on AI for low-resolution rendering and intelligent upscaling to improve game frame rates, allowing low-spec computers to run games smoothly. The core of the controversy lies in the fact that DLSS 5 introduces generative AI, and players are concerned that AI will arbitrarily alter the original artistic style of the games. Jensen Huang showcased realistic images of popular game characters from titles like "Resident Evil: The Mercenaries," "Starfield," and "Hogwarts Legacy" after being enhanced by AI. Miller stated, "I play games because they are works of art. I value the original creative traces of the developers. The gaming industry is already experiencing a wave of layoffs and studio closures, and this matter has made people in the industry anxious." Previously, the old version of DLSS could lower hardware barriers and allow more people to play games at a low cost, and Gatis had originally recognized this technology. "This technology itself is amazing, but now adding generative AI to alter the visuals is simply an insult to players." He worries that the future will lead to games being entirely generated by AI and believes this is NVIDIA's ultimate goal. Elon Musk has also stated that his xAI game studio plans to launch its first AI-generated game by the end of 2026. Gatis bluntly said, "AI directly alters the original artistic content of developers, and if this continues, it could even replace game developers themselves, ultimately leading to studio closures." NVIDIA issued a statement regarding this matter: "Games are a creative artistic medium through which developers tell stories and create immersive worlds for players. Our RTX-related technologies are all auxiliary tools, including ray tracing, path tracing, and AI-enhanced technologies like DLSS supersampling, frame generation, and DLSS 5, all serve to help developers realize their creative visions while balancing performance and visual quality." At the GTC conference, Jensen Huang claimed that AI will completely revolutionize computer graphics technology. In response to players' complaints that DLSS 5 would make all game visuals converge in style, he firmly replied during the Q&A session the next day, "This viewpoint is completely wrong. Developers still have full control and can fine-tune the generative AI to fit their own artistic style." **The absolute favorite in players' hearts** For over a decade, NVIDIA's cloud gaming platform GeForce NOW has been continuously operating, offering free and paid multi-tier subscription services. Users can stream games purchased on platforms like Steam via the cloud, relying on NVIDIA's data center graphics cards without depending on their own computer hardware. Miller commented, "Companies like Sony and Microsoft are also laying out cloud gaming, but NVIDIA GeForce NOW has truly achieved a mature experience." Gaitis bluntly stated that the platform crushes all competitors: "It allows countless low-spec device players to enjoy a high-end gaming experience, and its technical strength is irreplaceable." AMD is NVIDIA's biggest competitor in the gaming graphics card field, with its Radeon graphics card product line, but both companies are similarly constrained by a shortage of video memory. Laskon said: "NVIDIA can't get video memory, and AMD can't either. Both major brands have loyal fans, but players clearly have their preferences." Gaitis added: "Among the PC gaming community, NVIDIA remains the undisputed first choice." ### Related Stocks - [NVDA.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/NVDA.US.md) - [NVDY.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/NVDY.US.md) - [NVDX.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/NVDX.US.md) - [NVDU.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/NVDU.US.md) - [NVDD.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/NVDD.US.md) - [NVDL.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/NVDL.US.md) - [07788.HK](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/07788.HK.md) - [07388.HK](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/07388.HK.md) - [NVDQ.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/NVDQ.US.md) - [SOXL.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/SOXL.US.md) ## Related News & Research - [Nvidia Faces Rising Competition as AI Chip Funding Surges](https://longbridge.com/en/news/283158951.md) - [5,137 Shares in NVIDIA Corporation $NVDA Bought by Chatterton & Associates Inc.](https://longbridge.com/en/news/283106425.md) - [Nvidia AI chip rivals attract record funding as competition heats up](https://longbridge.com/en/news/283134151.md) - [Wall Street Financial Group Inc. 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