NVidia & ATI Price Fixing

December 11, 2006 9:06 AM

So people have been fussy about the price of videocards at the high end being pretty darn insane these days. Apparently the prices have offended some folks so much that they decided to take NVidia and ATI (now AMD) to court over it.

Summons were issued by one Trong Nguyen on behalf of himself and others against Nvidia, ATI, and AMD. Lots of other plaintiffs have joined in, following news that ATI and Nvidia received summons from the Department of Justice ... The allegation is that Nvidia, ATI and AMD conspired to manipulate graphics card pricing [snip]

It goes on to saying that the two companies pretty much got together over donuts and tequila to decide on the prices to break gamers hearts. Laughing over the pain inflicted on poor people everywhere absolutely forced with no alternative to buy those $600 videocards.

Steve Gibson

Steve Gibson is the cofounder of Shacknews.com. Originally known as sCary's Quakeholio back in 1996, Steve is now President of Gearbox Publishing after selling Shacknews to GameFly in 2009.

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dlr(2)

 reply
December 11, 2006 9:12 AM

Yeah! More money for the lawyers. I know I'll never get anything out of it except maybe a $4.50 coupon off a full retail priced card.
- Steve Gibson
  
   reply
  December 11, 2006 9:14 AM
  
  but you'll have at least a little closure for your years of suffering!
  - avatar_58
    
     reply
    December 11, 2006 9:19 AM
    
    Where is the case here anyway...technically they could price them at $2000 and we'd have to accept it. Free market. If you don't like it - don't buy it. If enough people don't buy it then they are forced to make changes. Obviously people don't mind the price or they wouldn't be selling.
    - K1Bond007
      
       reply
      December 11, 2006 9:28 AM
      
      No, price fixing is when multiple companies get together and define the prices (or something similar) to inflate prices enough so that they all make money. That's not a free market. That's a cartel -- conspiring to screw over consumers. There is no alternative when they're making those deals.
      
      Makers of DRAM got nailed doing this. Specifically Samsung and Micron among others.
      - diabolicc
        
         reply
        December 11, 2006 9:34 AM
        
        Even a cartel only works if people pay the supposedly inflated prices. If no one thought high end cards were worth $6-700 dollars, a cartel would be useless.
        
        alexthegreat2
        
         reply
        December 11, 2006 9:41 AM
        
        Collusion is illegal, it doesn't matter if the item is a luxury good or a cancer medication.
        
        K1Bond007
        
         reply
        December 11, 2006 9:46 AM
        
        Yes, but typically they pick a price in which they can get people to pay. They're being not being retarded here by pricing themselves completely out of the market. There are also numerous ways to price fix.
    - alexthegreat2
      
       reply
      December 11, 2006 9:30 AM
      
      Well, it isn't a free market, it's a controlled one and you're not allowed to collude on pricing in certain circumstances. These are laws that are made for a reason and if ATI and NV broke the laws then they need to be punished. I sincerely doubt anyone is saying that they were emotionally effected or suffered any great harm, but it's still illegal to steal a penny from a million people.
  - hawke
    
     reply
    December 11, 2006 9:21 AM
    
    I love deep level of sarcasm in that write-up. I wouldn't be surprised if Nvidia/ATI called Steve in to be an expert witness.
    
    "So Mr. Gibson, do you as a gamer feel gouged?"
  - dlr(2)
    
     reply
    December 11, 2006 9:55 AM
    
    Oh, and let's not forget that next year prices go up even more than the $4.50 coupon I have since now legal costs have risen.
    
    Good thing I always buy a few steps down from the top (currently have a 6600GT PCIx), but I will be tempted after Vista comes out.
    - alexthegreat2
      
       reply
      December 11, 2006 10:21 AM
      
      This is one of the reasons I think judgments should go against the executives, not the company itself. When you hit the corporation for punitive damages it just hurts the largely innocent workers and customers.
- festivalman
  
   reply
  December 11, 2006 9:23 AM
  
  I don't understand how you can price fix a luxury item. Maybe we have a case against Lamborghini and Ferrari for artificially inflating supercar prices.
  - K1Bond007
    
     reply
    December 11, 2006 9:31 AM
    
    It's because you don't know what price fixing is.
  - SilverSnake
    
     reply
    December 11, 2006 9:31 AM
    
    Price fixing is when they explicitly agree to put it at a certain level. I don't think Lamborghini and Ferrari has agreed on their car pricing and I wouldn't be so sure that they are that much above what they cost to make (including R&D). The markup for R&D will obviously have to be bigger for each car since they sell so few due to the high manufacturing costs (hand stitched leather doesn't come cheap, for example).