Josh Hendrickson
NVIDIA says it’s delaying the launch of GeForce RTX 3070 by two weeks to October 29th. It recently launched the RTX 3080, which sold out before many users had the chance to purchase. Much like the Xbox and PS5 preorder launches, the rocky experience led to unhappy customers, and NVIDIA wants to avoid that outcome with the RTX 3070.
It’s the year of nextgen gaming, and gamers everywhere have been saving up for big purchases. Add in the manufacturing difficulties of a global pandemic, and there isn’t enough stock to go around. When NVIDIA launched the RTX 3080 last month, it sold out nearly immediately. Unfortunately, some of the problems were bots making purchases for resellers, but stock levels were also an issue. The whole fiasco led to NVIDIA apologizing for the failures involved.
NVIDIA says a delay should help prevent a repeat of those events. By pushing back the launch day to October 29th, it can get more graphics cards into gamers’ hands. Presumably, the extra time will allow NVIDIA to manufacturer more cards in time for the new launch day.
When it launches, the RTX 3070 should be 60% faster than the previous-gen RTX 2070, while maintaining the same $500 price. That promise will likely lead to brisk sales. Hopefully the decision to delay will see everyone who wants the card actually get it.
Source: NVIDIA
