In a unique play at the market, AMD announced last July 5 that they were dropping the price of its new generation AMD Radeon 5700 series as it welcomes the competition. However, Scott Herkelman of AMD through his cryptic tweet on July 4 that led many to believe that AMD jebaited its rival company.
During their Next Horizon Gaming Event at this year's E3, AMD unveiled the AMD Radeon 5700 series. It also announced that the AMD Radeon RX 5700 would be available at $379 while the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT would be retailed at $449. But, AMD's move would definitely not go unanswered by its competitor NVIDIA, which is preparing its SUPER series as well.
The pricing of the most recent Navi-based Radeon cards from AMD collected mixed answers from the consumers with some being fine and consider the announcement an expected strategy. On July 2, NVIDIA unveiled its SUPER series line. It introduced the RTX 2060 SUPER priced at $399, RTX 2070 SUPER retailed at $499 and the RTX 2080 SUPER priced at $699.
The majority of the reviews found the new NVIDIA SUPER cards at the best price, which correspond to its range of performance. This became a major concern to AMD given their positioning of AMD Radeon RX 5700 series and their ambitious pricing scheme. Just a couple of days after NVIDIA's announcement, Scott Herkelyman of AMD, posted a tweet using the popular Twitch term, jebaited, which means baited.
His tweet attracted many sites and many speculated that AMD might drop the price of its AMD Radeon 5700 series. On July 5, an official email from the marketing team of AMD confirmed what many previously speculated that the price slash was really taking place. NVIDIA's SUPER series has been leaked earlier and almost everybody knows that the company is developing a refresh.
The @AMD Radeon RX 5700 series is now available! Jump in to 1440p Ultra gaming with updated #RDNA architecture, incredible visual fidelity, and highly responsive gameplay. Get yours on https://t.co/RqPozv6iXc and at retailers worldwide. — Radeon RX (@Radeon) July 7, 2019
The strategic move that AMD did in terms of pricing was just a normal reaction and a reasonable reason. Their previous actions do not seem like they were setting a trap for NVIDIA at all, considering that NVIDIA's new SUPER product line is a refresh. As both publicly traded companies, they are for-profit organizations who are indebted to the shareholders among others.
Although the general perception about these companies is that they are the good guys who make most of what gamers used to hope for become possible, it is important to note that they develop the most enticing products hoping that they will be the go-to brand that the consumers will patronize.
