You Couldn’t Afford Nvidia’s Next Gen GPUs, Even if You Wanted Them

Are we honestly upset that the pace of tech product releases is slowing down? Nvidia may have already pushed back the launch of its next-generation RTX GPUs for PC gaming. The bigger issue at play isn’t the loss of future graphics cards bearing minimal performance boosts. Even if it launched new cards, Nvidia isn’t doing anything to keep them affordable.

On Thursday, The Information reported, based on anonymous sources, that Nvidia was scaling back plans for its consumer-end GPUs. The report claimed there were three issues at play. One, that Nvidia was delaying the launch of any of its “Super” RTX 50-series refreshes beyond 2026. Two, that Team Green was likely pushing the launch of the RTX 60-series GPUs—codenamed Rubin—into 2028. Finally, Nvidia is cutting production of its current 50-series GPUs.

The RTX 5090 Founders Edition compared to an older RTX 4080 Super and RTX 4070 Ti Super. You’ll still need to wait for any Super variants of the RTX 50-series. © Photo: Kyle Barr / Gizmodo

It’s the last point that we should be most concerned about. Nvidia has reiterated to Gizmodo that it was still shipping “all GeForce SKUs” but blamed memory supply for any current supply hiccups. What Nvidia is not saying is it needs to make more room for production of its AI training chips—the reason the company has catapulted into the most profitable business in the world.

Rumors swirled late last year that Nvidia had originally intended to launch the “Super” versions of its current GPUs, like the RTX 5070 Ti and RTX 5080. CES 2026 came and went without any peep of consumer news from the GPU maker. However, that timing would have been a quick turnaround compared to past GPUs. Nvidia launched its previous RTX 40-series in October of 2022, then pushed out the Super versions of those cards in January of 2024. Those GPUs included higher specs and lower base prices than the previous models and were an all-around solid upgrade with increased core counts and clock speeds. They had the added effect of lowering costs for the original 40-series as well.

Nvidia doesn’t need gamers anymore

The Vera Rubin AI training chips will inevitably be used for whatever RTX 60 series GPUs come along. © Bridget Bennett/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Prices of today’s cards can’t possibly compare to just two years ago. The RTX 50-series launched with higher base prices than their previous counterparts. Now, in 2026, you can’t find any 4K-ready GPUs, like the RTX 5070 Ti and RTX 5090, for hundreds or even thousands of dollars more than their original manufacturer suggested retail price (MSRP). If an RTX 5070 Ti costs more than $1,000 while an RTX 5080 demands $500 or more than the original price, what would adding a Super variant actually change?

It’s too early to be talking about the 60-series, anyway. In a video published late Thursday, reliable leaker Moore’s Law is Dead cited several anonymous sources surrounding and inside Nvidia who claimed the company didn’t have concrete plans to push back the fabled Rubin GPUs past 2027. If Nvidia is going to make any decision to delay the launch, it will likely happen closer to the date of arrival.

All these GPUs cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars more than they did at launch one year ago. © Photo: Kyle Barr / Gizmodo

It’s too early to tell how the RTX 60-series will shake things up. Based on what we know about Nvidia’s Vera Rubin AI training chips, which is our first glimpse of the “more efficient” next-gen GPU, it will still demand a heap of VRAM for playing today’s games at higher resolutions. And it’s not just memory shortages impacting, but manufacturing scale. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told Taiwanese outlet UDN that TSMC will need to increase manufacturing by 100% in the next 10 years “just to meet Nvidia’s demand.”

A little more than a year ago, Nvidia did not think of itself as a gaming company. Nor is it a “technology company,” as Jensen put it in a 2025 Q&A. Nvidia is an AI company. Anything related to gaming and the “personal computer,” whether it’s GeForce, cloud streaming, DLSS, or its newfangled lightweight laptop chips, are outliers on Nvidia’s quarterly spreadsheets. If the AI bubble bursts, Nvidia should hope there are still enough gamers left who can afford whatever new, ultimately expensive GPU comes their way.