RTX 3080 Availability: NVIDIA Official Statement

NVIDIA has finally released an official statement regarding the availability of its new RTX 3080 graphics card in stores.

The AMPERE-powered GPU was made available on September 17, 2020 and immediately went out-of-stock reportedly due to scalpers and bots of resellers.

Here's what the multi-national company has to say:

This morning we saw unprecedented demand for the GeForce RTX 3080 at global retailers, including the NVIDIA online store. At 6 a.m. pacific we attempted to push the NVIDIA store live. Despite preparation, the NVIDIA store was inundated with traffic and encountered an error. We were able to resolve the issues and sales began registering normally.

To stop bots and scalpers on the NVIDIA store, we’re doing everything humanly possible, including manually reviewing orders, to get these cards in the hands of legitimate customers.

Over 50 major global retailers had inventory at 6 a.m. pacific. Our NVIDIA team and partners are shipping more RTX 3080 cards every day to retailers.

We apologize to our customers for this morning's experience.

Some dismayed customers aired their frustrations on the NVIDIA Community Forums saying that the company should "cancel all orders" for fairness sake.





Rand0m_Her0 posted the following "open letter" to NVIDIA:

NVIDIA,

I think things could have been done better. All things considered, this could have been a moment to shine but instead you kept the status quo. I'm nobody special, I'm not a content content creator with a million subscribers. Certainly not one of those people willing to tear apart a new 3080 with a stick and some glue. I am just a normal customer.

You could have been more honest about your numbers, you could have set the tone with how people reacted on launch day with a stronger presence. Instead you left it to hushed rumors in back rooms, where accusations and impulsive minds meet.

Lessons learned from previous launches should have already taught a lesson; scalpers and bots are always evolving new ways to get the product out of the hands of the customer. You tell us all that you are doing everything humanly possible to fix this. My reaction to that is, why did you not do everything humanly possible to prevent it? A company with your breadth of knowledge and resources, surely can come up with something innovative.

But you didn't and you left us to the wolves.

Times are hard right now, people are stuck at home, budgets are little tighter and stresses are high. Maybe you should have led the way, branded and innovated a way to be inclusive with the world. A lot of us find solace and community in the games we play and the products we choose to support.

You tell us that you care about us. We aren't seeing it and some of us may be starting to look elsewhere for it.

Overpriced RTX 3080 graphics cards are being sold on eBay and other online stores for thousands of dollars, one is even being bid out for over a million dollars, which is ridiculous.

Were you able to get an RTX 3080 before it went out-of-stock? Share your experience in the comments section below. Thanks for reading.

Sources: NVIDIA, NVIDIA Community Forums