Gamers Nexus Expose Linus Tech Tips For Quantity Over Quality [Updated Reply]
Rampant errors, ethical concerns, lack of transparency and more outlined in Steve's latest.
Update 1: Linus has responded to Gamers Nexus‘s criticism with a lengthy statement over on the LTT forums. He acknowledged some carelessness during the recent company instability, but he was dismayed by the way things have turned out in the public glare.
This statement not only directly addresses the criticism leveled at him, but also questions the “hypocrisy” of Gamers Nexus for going public without first contacting him personally.When introducing the statement, Linus said, “Most of what I have to say, I’ve already said, and done so privately.” This implied that the team would not be providing a full-fledged video response to the topic.
Linus promptly changed the subject to address the specific point, admitting that their team is not perfect. We are experiencing some growing pains, and it is evident that we need to improve our internal processes and communication, he said.
The original story is as follows:
In a recent 40-minute video from Gamers Nexus, reviewer Steve addressed some alarming remarks about Linus Tech Tips‘ credibility. While demonstrating multiple examples, Steve responded to one of the pointed-out assumptions in the Testing Lab Tour on LTX Day 1 by one of the employees working there.
In one video, a member of Linus Tech Tips’ Testing Lab stated, “Unlike Hardware Unboxed and Gamers Nexus, we test everything fresh when reviewing a product to ensure it is as accurate as possible.“
Hardware Unboxed had previously responded to the stated assumption on their Twitter profile, emphasizing how the remark was completely incorrect and unnecessary rifts amongst people. They explained that all of the benchmarks used in their videos are new and would be wiped out after a certain period of time to ensure a precise representation of the performance.
Gamers Nexus, on the other hand, chose not to respond to the comment and instead observed it silently. Linus detailed the situation in a podcast, claiming that “not everyone handled it professionally.” Linus stated on the 4th of August WAN Show that reviewers should disregard “personal relationships” when reviewing a product.
This triggered Gamers Nexus since he had previously had a dispute with LTT over one of their released backpacks that specifically had certain “personal relationships” included. Steve stated that it is his responsibility to prevent personal ties, and these allegations aggravate the situation.
Gamers Nexus Presents Proof Against Linus Tech Tips
Steve stated that LMG is “rushing too much to meet deadlines” which is causing significant issues in their opinions that they have to clarify later. While the original impact is made in the video, clarifying it doesn’t make much of a difference.
As an example, Steve displayed a review of the Pwnage Strombreaker mouse in which the reviewer did not even remove the plastic peel from the skates, prompting them to see the product as a negative one. They then addressed it in response, but they still criticised the company for not including the advice to remove the skate protection.
LTT Employees Against Quantity over Quality
According to Gamers Nexus, one of the key reasons for these flaws could be that LMG is rushing its content, which employees confirm in a video posted on the Linus Tech Tips channel. Most employees believe that the number of videos should be reduced in order to improve content quality, which is consistent with Gamers Nexus’ claim.
Repeated Errors in LTT Videos
Steve was dead serious about the errors in the recent LTT videos, viewing it as a more “serious” discussion rather than a drama. He demonstrated how the benchmarks were flawed to the extent that anyone with zero knowledge could identify the errors by sharing a GPU review from Linus Tech Tips. Along with this, many other flaws were discovered, which were, of course, corrected later, but only after the video had already been viewed by over a million people.
LTT 4090 Flawed Benchmark
Gamers Nexus pointed out massive flaws in LMG video testing with Coolers, resulting in a significant skew in the data, either by mistake or by purpose. Linus claims in one of its cooler reviews that the Noctua NH-D15 is powerful and can handle anything thrown at it, but one of the Benchmarks in the same video shows an Intel i9 13900K Thermal Throttling with the same cooler.
Either someone missed the problem, or they did now know about it at all, Steve claims.
While these mistakes are easy to point out, Gamers Nexus feels that the opinions in this video were favoured by “personal relationships” with Noctua and LTT. These can be seen with customized LTT variants dropping from Noctua.
The Billet Labs 3090ti Water Block
Another major blunder made by LTT was with a 3090ti block that was sent for testing. While the company explicitly stated that the block is only compatible with a 3090/3090ti, Linus used it with a 4090, causing the product to leave a negative impression. According to Gamers Nexus, he blamed the product for its shortcomings, despite the fact that he was the one at fault.
The company also auctioned off the cooler at its expo, which Billet requested be returned so that it could be reviewed by other media outlets. Without permission, LTT auctioned off the cooler. The company discovered this after the cooler had already been taken.
LTT’s Responsibility as a Media Group
While LTT claims that its channels are more of an entertainment source than actual opinions, it must acknowledge that its impact extends far beyond “entertainment.” With these massive blunders, LTT is to a greater extent responsible for causing losses to companies that sell their products as well as people who choose something based solely on the mistakes in the videos.
LTT (LMG) has yet to provide an official response. Rest assured, we will provide an update if a response is received.
Source: Gamers Nexus
