AMD bans ASRock from selling its RX 500 Series in the European Union
The ASRock company reveals that it will not sell AMD RX 500 Series graphics cards in Europe, due to an explicit prohibition by AMD to sell these products in the European Union.
A few days ago, we learned about the arrival of ASRock's graphics cards to the market, which were based on the second-generation Polaris architecture, also known as the Radeon RX 500 Series. ASRock's Phantom Gaming cards weren't just intended for gaming; they were also partly developed for cryptocurrency mining. Now, ASRock has contacted Tom's Hardware Germany because they published a review of one of their graphics cards, and the company has no interest in advertising in that country.
ASRock's Sales Manager has reported that: 'The problem is that AMD has not agreed to sell ASRock graphics cards in the European Union, that's really a shame'
The decision can be quite controversial, especially since ASRock sells other products in the European Union, but there is another reason. These restrictions are quite common and are due to the fact that there may be an excess of manufacturers from a certain region. A clear example is Colorful graphics cards, which can only be found in the Asian market (with few exceptions)
The problem here is that everyone should have the option to choose an inexpensive solution. Thus, if a user from Spain wants one of these graphic cards, he will have to pay additional taxes and shipping costs, therefore, this graphic card no longer pays and competitiveness is lost.
It is no less true that AMD a few days ago started the marketing company 'Freedom of Choice in PC Gaming' or what is the same, all PC Gaming users should have freedom of choice, in counterpart to the NVIDIA program. What turns life gives.
Now the GPP is canceled and AMD does not want to sell its graphics? AMD should go bankrupt directly, they do not make new graphics and are only interested in selling to miners ...
I don't know German, but maybe someone can edit it.
Update from 07.05.2018/08/30 at XNUMX:XNUMX
In our subsequent inquiries to ASRocks HQ, ASRock has confirmed to us where they really want to sell the cards:
«…VGA card products are only sold in South America and APEC (excluding China, Hong Kong and Taiwan) at first.» I can’t provide you the MSRP and warranty period because they are different in different sales regions… »
Considering now the APEC member and carrying out the above exclusions, below being Australia, Brunei, Canada, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, United States, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Chile, Peru, Russia and Vietnam As a result, ASRock does not sell the cards, as rumored in some news, in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong to conquer the Chinese market.
Update from 07.05.2018 - 10:50
We have removed the entry quote, but we are still in this news and ultimately also in the question of why these things were and are communicated so badly and what the real motivations were and are. ASRock's (now official) logic in Europe reads like this at the end:
The decision to sell ASRock’s VGA card is “based on the history of mutual channel agreement.”
Update from 07.05.2018 - 17:15
After careful consideration and consideration of all available information, we have changed the title of this news once again. On the one hand, there is still the question in the room, why the communication was so slow, that once it took more than 4 days, until a reaction came. Also, some of the statements contradict each other to this day. On the other hand, we also suspect that the manufacturer was simply overwhelmed by a lack of experience with the situation and that AMD may have intervened. When in doubt, we now hold it once with those whose concerns were most plausibly presented. But we are vigilant.
SOURCE: http://www.tomshardware.de/amd-asrock-grafikkarten-europa-nicht_verfugbar,news-259293.html
The issue seems to be internal plans ...
http://www.guru3d.com/news-story/asrock-issues-statement-on-phantom-gaming-series-graphics-card-regional-availability.html