While everyone waited for an Nvidia-AMD showdown at CES 2025, the RX 9000 cards were conspicuously missing from AMD's livestream. Nvidia's RTX 50 series stole the show, and all we got from AMD was that they were planning a separate event to do justice to the RDNA 4 launch. AMD might be playing it smart by waiting to see how Nvidia's GPUs fare in the wild, but the recent confirmation about a March launch doesn't inspire confidence.

People might not have lapped up AMD's latest GPUs if they had launched before Nvidia, but the promising leaks and benchmarks have had everyone excited about what AMD's been cooking up with RDNA 4. This delay will not only test consumer patience but also give the competition an uncontested sales window. Possibly, the few fans willing to consider switching to AMD this generation might not wait any longer.

3 It tanks consumer confidence in RDNA 4

Does AMD not believe enough in its latest GPUs?

When talking to media outlets, AMD executives made it a point to mention that they didn't want to rush through the RDNA 4 announcement at CES to avoid consumers losing confidence in the next-gen cards. However, by promising a separate event but more or less disappearing without any updates, only to announce a date sometime in March via X, the company might have ended up doing what it wanted to avoid.

The narrative coming from AMD is that this months-long delay is to polish the software side, including drivers and FSR 4. However, the vast population of users eagerly awaiting AMD's more affordable GPUs as an answer to the pricey RTX 50 series won't bother with the details. AMD might want to take its time perfecting the performance and pricing of its next-gen GPUs, but missing the crucial January launch window could deal a huge blow.

Team Red should have perfected its software stack way before CES. Announcing the RX 9000 GPUs a few days after Nvidia's keynote but withholding pricing for a later date would have been far better than what we're seeing now. It's not hard to see why the online chatter is turning against AMD, questioning the seemingly defensive delay by the company in response to Nvidia's much-hyped Blackwell offerings.

2 The market is wide open for the RTX 5070 & RTX 5070 Ti

AMD's closest competitors might reign uncontested

Nvidia's RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 are already available for purchase, and while AMD isn't competing with these high-end models, Nvidia's mid-range SKUs might not be far behind. Recent reports indicate that the review embargo for the upcoming RTX 5070 Ti will lift on February 19th, with the GPU going on sale the day after, February 20th. The RTX 5070 is also expected to go on sale sometime in February, as communicated before by Nvidia.

Meanwhile, listings for AMD's RX 9000 GPUs appeared on some retailer websites with a March 22nd release date. With the RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 out of reach for most consumers, thanks to $1,000 being the minimum point of entry, most gamers would be planning to grab the RTX 5070 for around $549. The absence of any new AMD GPUs for about a month would mean that eager consumers will have no option but to buy the Nvidia offering.

It doesn't help that pricing leaks for the AMD cards indicate a $500-$600 price range for the RX 9070. And if the latest performance targets are to be believed, it will perform around 10% faster than the RTX 5070. Hence, there's not much of a price incentive to wait for AMD's supposedly "cheaper" offerings if they're going to perform more or less similarly to the RTX 5070.

1 Not even AMD fans are willing to wait much longer

Consumers are sick of AMD's bizarre launch strategy

People on the internet often joke, albeit unfairly, that "AMD never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity." This trend might be playing out again, if you believe the reactions from users on Reddit and X. Just browse the comments on David McAfee's post on X announcing the March release window, and you'll see what I'm talking about.

The reaction AMD would have hoped from loyal fans and the general public is nowhere to be seen. AMD's marketing leading up to the RX 9000 launch has been incoherent, to say the least. We've seen promo materials appear on random sources and then be taken down, product listings confirming release dates before being removed, and no word on the "separate event" AMD promised after CES.

If you keep teasing a product incessantly, the hype might just die before you can reap any benefits. AMD has been claiming much-improved ray tracing performance and game-changing improvements with FSR 4, but we need to see it in action, and long before we lose interest. Even AMD fans are tired of waiting, blasting the company on the r/AMD subreddit, and I don't blame them.

We all want AMD to succeed, but how much does AMD want it?

A lot depends on perception leading up to the launch of a new product and, as things stand, it doesn't look promising for AMD. Many of my friends, who reasonably aren't scanning posts on X or following every leak and rumor, completely dismissed AMD's next-gen GPUs when they were a no-show at CES. Those who stuck around after that would have been disappointed when January came and went without any separate announcement by AMD.

Loyal fans who were still confident about AMD's new dedicated ray tracing hardware and AI-powered FSR 4 are now pissed at the March release window. The company might still be able to make the RX 9000 series a success, but only time will tell how much damage has already been done by this unfortunate delay.