Nvidia has introduced its RTX 5060, but is only distributing the device to selected testers. This is causing a significant debate among gamers. Steve Burke from the well-known YouTube channel Gamers Nexus criticizes this practice of tying test devices to specific conditions.
This is the current situation:
- Nvidia is releasing its new RTX 5060 on May 19, 2025. On paper, it is an entry-level graphics card with 8 GB of video memory aimed at full HD gaming.
- Previously, Nvidia had informed journalists that there would be no test samples or drivers prior to the release. This is typically standard practice when new hardware comes to market. Important testers are provided with a device ahead of time.
- Just before the release, first previews of the graphics card have now emerged. Experts, including the YouTuber Gamers Nexus, are criticizing Nvidia’s practice of providing their graphics cards only under certain conditions.
Gamers Nexus criticizes Nvidia’s practice
This is the criticism from Gamers Nexus: Steve Burke, editor-in-chief of Gamers Nexus, discusses the testing situation surrounding the new GeForce RTX 5060 in a recent YouTube video. His accusation, shared by others, is that Nvidia relies on problematic and manipulative practices in dealing with the tech press and independent reviewers.
As Burke reports, Nvidia attempts to influence reporting purposefully by tying access to interviews, technical insights, and test samples to conditions. Gamers Nexus criticizes this tactic as unethical and damaging to the credibility of the entire tech reporting.
The arguments from Gamers Nexus:
- Nvidia only grants access to technical experts, interviews, and pre-release test samples if reviewers prominently discuss certain technologies like DLSS and MFG 4X in their reviews.
- Nvidia seems to view the relationship with reviewers as “business”: those who cooperate gain access, while those who do not are excluded. This undermines the independence and objectivity of the reporting.
- Nvidia tries to control the public depiction of their products by preferentially providing “friendly” media with exclusive access. Less cooperative or critical media are disadvantaged or excluded from important information.
- These practices damage the credibility of all reviews of Nvidia technologies (especially DLSS and MFG) because readers and viewers can no longer know whether the reporting is independent.
According to Gamers Nexus, Nvidia is known in the industry for responding harshly to criticism or unwanted reporting. For this reason, manufacturer EVGA has withdrawn from the Nvidia partnership.
Steve Burke explained that there is a risk of losing permanent access to Nvidia products due to such disclosures. However, he considers transparency and honesty towards the community to be more important.
What is the validity of the accusations? This is not the first time Nvidia has attracted attention with similar accusations. For example, the magazine Heise.de reported that Nvidia had required journalists to sign a far-reaching NDA. Heise stated: “Nvidia NDA as a muzzle for journalists.”
In the case of the RTX 4060, this practice with exclusive previews reportedly also existed. This was reported, among others, by Computerbase.de: Here, too, there was an exclusive allowance from the manufacturer, provided the focus of the reporting on these contents was placed on performance gains from DLSS 3 including Frame Generation, only comparing in selected games, and only testing with settings prescribed by Nvidia.
In Germany, the preview from GameStar Tech faces criticism
What is the situation here? In Germany, the magazine GameStar Tech was able to exclusively preview the RTX 5060. GS Tech made the conditions for a test from Nvidia transparent and publicly visible and is being heavily criticized for the preview at present.
GameStar Tech has already commented on this, explained the background, and announced that they will handle such situations differently in the future. Furthermore, there will be a final independent test of the GeForce RTX 5060 that should not be tied to conditions:
Thank you very much for your honest feedback. Our original goal was to provide you with an initial orientation for the RTX 5060 upon launch. However, we underestimated the signal this sends. Therefore, we did not achieve our actual goal.
From this, we draw our conclusions: We will no longer publish previews under such strict, test-linked conditions.
Our focus remains on an independent test – not just with graphics cards. For the final, comprehensive test of the RTX 5060, we will take the necessary time to thoroughly and fundamentably answer all important questions for you.
GameStar Tech, like MeinMMO, belongs to Webedia GmbH.
Are 2,300 euros too expensive for a graphics card, but you still want to game smoothly in the coming years? MeinMMO has some recommendations that are also worth considering for gaming but do not cost 2,000 euros. 6 alternatives to the RTX 5000 if you don’t want to spend 2,300 euros on a graphics card
