The Problem with Linus Tech Tips: Accuracy, Ethics, & Responsibility

This video is not monetized. This video covers our serious concerns regarding the data accuracy of Linus Media Group, including Linus Tech Tips, ShortCircuit, and TechQuickie, particularly as it relates to rushing content out the door to favor -- by staff's own admission -- quantity over quality. As the company continues to expand into its LTT Labs direction, the importance of accurate data increases; however, even as 'only' entertainment, there are still certain responsibilities to the consumer and the manufacturers to report fairly (and to have defined corrections processes in place). We tried to approach this as objectively as possible and hope that viewers are able to listen to the evidence we present, particularly as it relates to significant and frequent data errors that now present in nearly every technical review video.
Linus Tech Tips responds: • HW News - Linus Tech T...
Mentioned in the video, you can find our policies on corrections and errors here: gamers.nexus/ethics-statement...
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 - The Last 2 Weeks
01:40 - LMG is Rushing Too Much: Establishing the Premise
03:48 - LTT's Own Employees Agree
06:58 - This Isn't "Drama" & Risks
09:05 - Bad Data from Linus Tech Tips
10:12 - GPU Review Errors
15:02 - CPU Cooler Test Errors
19:09 - PSU Review Errors
19:53 - CPU Review Errors
22:39 - Asterisked Errors
26:15 - Ethical Concerns: Irresponsible Actions & Conflicts
28:21 - Ethical Concerns: The Review of Billet Labs
34:49 - Ethical Concerns: 'Not-Review' of Pwnage Mouse
36:53 - UNACCEPTABLE & The Community is Disturbing
39:22 - Unfair to Consumers, Manufacturers, & Reviewers
** Please like, comment, and subscribe for more! **
Follow us in these locations for more gaming and hardware updates:
t: / gamersnexus
f: / gamersnexus
w: www.gamersnexus.net/
Host, Research, Video Editing: Steve Burke

[@GamersNexus]

This was a difficult video to make. We ask that you listen to our concerns, commentary, and statements with an open mind. We would not have made this video if we didn't view it as important and necessary. Thank you. Update: Linus has posted a response. Here it is and here are our comments (you'll need to watch this first video before though to have the context): kzbin.info/www/bejne/jmTFqq1pqd2jqdE

[@tbrowniscool]

You guys are the best, I bet Linus is sweating reading these comments! GN has titanium balls. (Edit: spelling)

[@politicallyincorrect4452]

I love this channel in the end when I want serious testing that is unbiased upfront and accurate I come to Gamers Nexus plain and simple. You guys do a great job keep hitting it out the park Gamers Nexus.

[@Lock2002ful]

Phew, looking forward to how this plays out. While you’re at it, I’d also like to know your take ok Hardware Unboxed. I find them quite biased, pick and choose and high nosed. Not reliable source for factual information but rather opinion pieces with a bit of test data here and there.

[@BudgetGamerz]

I 100% agree with your points and have been saying this for a while.

[@dunkan44]

You would imagine that the personal relationships would cause you to keep each other more accountable.

[@Shogoeu]

Linus' statement he is not willing to spend 500 dollars to not destroy someone's business is just disappointing.

[@filip9587]

$500 is most likely pennies for them given the amount of money they spend on products in videos _and_ the videos themselves.

[@johnnypopstar]

@@filip9587 It is, but that kind of "cheapskate" behaviour is also one of the ways they've been able to grow so large as to spend so much on videos in general. The money they haven't spent on being more thorough instead gets spent on growth.

[@WayStedYou]

Meanwhile, stealing and reselling their best prototype. Big brain time.

[@Munno22]

Not returning the prototype is actually just straight criminal lol, agreeing to return it then failing to do so is promissory estoppel at the least.

[@Ryan30z]

His character has been obvious since the all in one watercooling thing. He could have bought airconditioning so his staff didn't have to work in an extremely hot envrionment, but instead he tried to do it on the cheap and also make content out of it. His solution would never work. One of the biggest double downs I've ever seen was on a WAN show episode where Linus misspoke and said 108060p. Instead of just saying he misspoke he dug his heels in and went on a tangent about how he's correct.

[@Ghilliedude3]

This isn’t drama or an attack. This is peer review. It’s necessary and professional.

[@huskers1278]

Yeah I'm sure it has nothing to do with reaching LMGs audience either

[@CosmicCleric]

@@huskers1278 the audiences already overlap.

[@anthonyromano2793]

Yep, its called Check and Balances.

[@nateo200]

Yup anything less but be encouraging unaccountability

[@huskers1278]

@@CosmicCleric Brooooo. 15 million subscribers is definitely a little different than 2 million. That's 700% different. And if you want some proof this video has been out for roughly 6 hours. Has like 600k views and GN has an average view count of 400k. Whether or not it's monetized means nothing when you can pick up future viewers lol.

[@makuIa]

the asterisk key at LTT is the busiest member of their staff

[@johnm5969]

LTT was my first tech tips channel and was my go to for several years. Unfortunately, even I began to notice errors and inconsistencies, some of which I pointed out in comments. I recently unsubscribed from LTT and it's sister channels as I no longer trust their reviews. Thank you and your crew for the hard work and dedication to honest unbiased reviews.

[@H.EL-Othemany]

Exactly, after closer look, you begin to notice their BS. I have unsubscribed way before this incident.

[@EmeraldCityVideo]

It's the nature of content mills. Same thing happened with Illuminaughtii right before she fully collapsed in on herself.

[@Mr6Sinner]

The quality of their worked stopped being good enough for me to watch after they left the kitchen.

[@darschpugs4690]

Same, LTT was my go to for a long time, I am still subbed, but i use them purely for entertainment, if i need to actually know something or learn something i watch Gamer's NExus, Jayz2cents or even DanKamYouKnow who does some entertaining but informative videos on pc builds and settings.

[@ddavis2354]

Same. I was a massive LTT fan, watched everything they were doing for years. I even applied to work for them at one point. Just went down hill in a weird way, kind of became bigger than they should've it feels

[@Jayztwocents]

Steve and crew, I waited to watch this video until after finishing my creative for the day so I could go into it with a clear open mind. As someone who has made many many mistakes and honestly am working hard to limit them as much as possible have to say that I genuinely appreciated your attention to detail regarding examples and the insight not only from your perspective and expertise but the insight presented in various clips from LMG... but also your offering of advice on how to be a better reviewer overall. As someone who simply cannot provide the level of detail that you do it gives me something to constantly strive for. I sincerely hope that LMG doesnt take this as an attack but a real eye opener on a broader problem they may not be as evident from their end. As the Walmart Greeter to the tech world, Im glad you are managing the Service Department!

[@justfun5479]

Lol, your Nvidia GPU advices are sooo much better...

[@djchemical]

Well said.

[@JustinHEMI05]

I really hope they take it as the wake up call that it is, reflect, and course correct. They can do it.

[@batzytoys]

good reply jay, and youre a personal fav of mine.

[@benjaminzarkhin1293]

The KZbin tech side is just one big Walmart.

[@rossmanngroup]

This is informative, and unfortunate

[@jimmyjimbo72]

Would be interested in a video giving your thoughts on this situation, as long as you're open to making one of course!

[@al6r725]

The man himself!

[@lucasZr113]

If you ever decide to get a tatto, that should be it lol

[@azena.]

It's truly a shame to see LMG falling so low.

[@thorcristoria9410]

Would be great if you could give your takes on this

[@MarkovChains223]

I'll be honest, I don't know anything about tech, so half this stuff goes over my head. But I do have a degree in statistics. And their decision to retest the same things over and over again *and ignoring the past data* is absolutely insane. That's straight up just ASKING to make mistakes. It is a fundamental flaw in their *entire process* that'll basically doom them until they change it. It's no wonder they're always getting their numbers wrong. That's what happens when you test something too often and ignore *the vast majority of the data you've collected*. Someone needs to go in there and start slapping everyone in management.

[@MarkovChains223]

@@CantStopTheSignal337 doing a new test every time and ignoring all of previously collected data every time is a guaranteed way to *ensure* error. Retesting *is* good. But it isn't good if you throw away all of the prior data every time. That's how you get the ridiculous outliers and errors they did. Had they actually done any sort of basic data analysis or QC checks with the historical data, they'd *instantly* figure out that their values were off, and they'd know they'd need to figure out why. If you keep the old data, you can straight up *automate* your outlier/error/change detection. It wouldn't even be particularly difficult. What they're doing/did is a textbook case of stupid experimental design.

[@JORDAN-CHRISTOPHERSPENCER]

as much as i hate them, PCs are so crazy different each time depending on the OS, BIOS, DRIVER , every single thing could deviate

[@blackimp4987]

mmm sorry but knowing the subject you apply statistics makes the difference: old data must be kept for sure but with all the hw they use than replace and reassemble it's quite hard they can test for instance a new video card on the same exact configuration they tested the others and just a little change can compromise the comparison..so - I don 't know that channel that much, I'm guessing from the comments and the few videos I've seen so far -if you imply he should test a new components and compare it with the competitors just by reading the older data you might be wrong. it depends on the fact he kept the same exact configuration and even that way something could have change in the way it works due to some component like the psu that might degradate it's efficacy or the ssd etc.

[@logandarnell8946]

@@blackimp4987 doesn't excuse discarding the data, having test points on various different setups with a common component makes for good data, they are seemingly intentionally discarding this concept for the sake of throughput.

[@paulk5670]

​​@@blackimp4987I'll chime in as an engineer who did alright in my university statistics. You keep the previous data and trend the ever-loving shit out of it *because* things vary due to minute changes. By keeping a good log of how those things change you can begin to correlate how much variability you should expect from what kinds of changes, and what kind of variability looks like a step change caused by an error. e.g. what does poorly applied thermal paste look like versus what is normal variability in temperature under load, versus when is it impossible to distinguish. And when do any of those variations appear to actually matter for performance elsewhere. It's basic design of experiment stuff, and when they were setting up the labs it sure sounded like they had people that understood all that. It seems very much like production pressure is getting in the way of the utopia of trusted results Linus was trying to sell us all. The sad thing is that while, yes, they have an incentive to produce content, it's nit like they're facung the kinds of production pressure engineers at powerplants face when they have to delay startup at a million dollars a day to get things right. Being a scrooge aout a few hundred dollars to rerun a test to get fair results is ridiculous for a a company worth as much as they are. I wonder what the dollar figure the damage to their brand is valued at. Given their position as a major player in the industry, I sure hope they realign their goals and ethics.

[@wubbsy]

My heart goes out to Billet Lab. Each of these points individually would have been bad enough. Misrepresenting the product because they used it on a part which it wasn't designed for. The audacity for a company of this size to not correct their wrong test results because "it's too expensive". So many disrespectful comments to a startup and their product which is still in active development. Even if they came to the same conclusion after doing the test correctly these comments would be very mean and frankly unacceptable. They, in all their glory and with their years of "technical knowledge" should be capable of constructive feedback. Nothing wrong with saying that in it's for a niche or enthusiast market and clarifying that it's still in the prototype stage. And then having the glorious idea to auction a prototype of a product that's in active development, without a single word to the owners. It's baffling how anyone came up with this. Even if they didn't need it back, the idea to sell actively developed prototypes is criminal. I hope Billet Labs doesn't get impacted too much over this. If I were Linus and this happened. (Only about the sold prototype) I would take every possible action to get the prototype back as fast as possible and return it back to BL together with a huge apology, and probably a hefty compensation for the unacceptable actions of my company. Plus the offer if they would like to make a new video where someone of their team comes over and demonstrate the product as intendiert. If they would even still be interested with working with LMG. Very good video and super important to show all of this. Thanks Steve and thank you Gamers Nexus team!

[@OrionDakota]

I mean the harm is less if its a trash cooler. If it IS a really good design then getting a bad review from a huge channel during prototype and having a competitor get a hold of your designs, will DESTROY the company. Very careless crap. Also Billet Labs apparently also SENT THEM the 3090ti to test it on so they straight up lied when they made the excuse "they had no way to properly test it."

[@jamesherrmann5331]

"I'm not willing to spend money to correct mistakes" Mistakes cost money. You make a mistake, you should be willing to pay to correct it. If you can't afford it, do it right the first time. Some of these mistakes, I suspect, will eventually end in a lawsuit that they will try and crowd fund for.

[@nucphyschem1]

I definitely see that happening. That and their whole trust me bro attitude towards everything reeks of supreme arrogance with the crowd. But given LTX sold out "whale" tickets at 10k a pop there are a lot more fools with money that would gladly help support him than not.

[@albundy06]

All that crap he said is just that, crap. It's code language for I'm a POS and do not care. It isn't about the money. Or the time. It's about just not giving a F and being terrible.

[@dustinbrueggemann1875]

Linus is becoming the Apple of the tech journalism sector. They're more worried about the paintjob than the product.

[@Law0fRevenge]

Ironically these mistakes and the lack of correction will now cost him not just even more money but also his reputation.

[@vaderdudenator1]

@@Law0fRevengewe can only hope

[@jamescampbell6728]

Their treatment of billet labs is absolutely unbelievable. Not only does it disqualify them from being taken seriously as reviewers. But the fact that they would sell their prototype after agreeing to send it back after spitting in their face...... That's insane

[@gmcanepa]

That should merit a lawsuit at the very least.

[@lewisse_8966]

Theft and defamation

[@corvus1970]

Indeed. I had not heard about that incident until this video. My mind is rather blown.

[@therookieshaker7795]

That's not insane... that's EVIL!!

[@TheDingo80]

If a competitor does bring a similar product to market based off reverse engineering the prototype they never should have had, LMG is going to pay out big time via lawsuit.

[@kentGrey]

I stopped watching LTT a long time ago based on what you've shown here and the personality deficits. The making of THIS video is long overdue! Thank You.

[@pwd1134]

Wait so did you stop watching LTT a long time ago or after this video was posted? Your statement makes no sense. GTFO. LTT FTW.

[@meatbyproducts]

@@pwd1134 The original statement makes sense. He stopped watching LTT a long time ago due to their poor video quality, and that is what was covered here. I stopped watching LTT ages ago because their videos went down hill or Linus was flogging his channel for free stuff on his mansion. The poster then says this video was overdue to be made. big channels that are supposed to be informative need to be called out when they fuck up, well LTT has been fucking up for years. I have been telling people to not trust them for about two or three years. KentGrey was very clear, I think maybe you're just a blind fanboy.

[@Peter-hb7tl]

@@pwd1134Your reading comprehension sucks. He stopped watching long ago based on the same things talked about in this video. Not saying he stopped because of this video. Bozo.

[@JohnDavidSullivan]

@@pwd1134 your comment makes no sense, whereas his does, quit gaslighting. I also quit watching him a long time ago. Cry harder.

[@RedVRCC]

I feel bad for Billet Labs especially... They should sue, then Linus might rethink that comment about not wanting to spend that $500 to properly test the product and then AUCTION IT OFF. GN always has my full respect for not being afraid of backlash or reprisal from any burnt bridges they make to reveal the truth to us all. Thank you for your constant great content.

[@IM_MOUNTAIN]

You feel bad for them... o really? While displaying a hammer and sickle...? The symbol under which millions died. Please come out of whatever self-righteous hole you are in and check yourself.

[@robertstahl8835]

Insane that Linus admitted that a few hundred bucks kept them from doing a proper test

[@JimTheFly]

THAT blew my mind. They're apparently a properly large company that does a lot of work in the tech sphere. Linus is rich enough that he invested $200,000 of his own money in a company. He was unwilling to invest at most $500 to properly test something, which is what his company was built on. And the thing is, it's the company's money he's talking about, and that I'm sure has even more money in its budget than his personal finances. I've worked for shows with low-to-mid 6-figure annual budgets and they've been more willing to spend $500 on things to get stuff right.

[@davidhickey8613]

It likely had more to do with the production schedule or not wanting people to work OT to redo the shoot and some company policy associated with OT. I'm sure he phrased it about as poorly as possible which is his MO.

[@siphillis]

I think he was more implying that he feels the product is so worthless that spending any more time and money on it would be impossible to justify. If they messed up the numbers for a major Nvidia drop, they'd absolutely pay to re-test. Problem is, Linus was in no position to judge the quality of the cooling block because they tested it wrong in the first place.

[@WlatPziupp]

@@davidhickey8613 That doesn't make any of it any better in any way

[@ICasinI]

Bro easily spends a small fortune on an industrial climate controlled temperature stress test chamber, but won’t drop a few hundred on properly testing a prototype product without fucking it up 💀

[@pavelbratchenko3885]

Linus' attitude for the guys who made this prototype watercooling system is just outrageous.

[@rlebz]

Massive ego

[@tomaszzalewski4541]

Yeah, especially them selling THEIR prototype. That's just bs, they trashed them and made Money out of it

[@progenitor_amborella]

Not defending the situation because Steve is still correct, however he did cut out the reason why Linus said that, which was due to the price alone. He stated that regardless of outcome, the “conclusion” would be the same because the cooler was something like $800, thus doesn't make sense to buy other than for looks. They then went on a rant about if pricing can make something a bad product, that's where Luke's comment came from. I do wish that bit was left in for context, however yes I do agree the situation to begin with was stupid. This doesn’t even get into how that prototype got auctioned, which is actually appalling. In this I am only offering context for people to inform their own opinions with. You could watch that segment of the show if you want the entire context, I would suggest people do that in order to inform themselves further. I suspect your opinions won’t change (as mine has not), but being fully informed is always better than not.

[@davidprochazka8304]

@@tomaszzalewski4541*for charity but sure

[@corbinbarrett6104]

I'm a huge fan of LTT and that one was especially hard to watch. Super disrespectful and unprofessional. They should track down whoever bought it and pay them whatever they want to buy it back so they can return the property that was never theirs.

[@Demento56]

The irony of LTT naming specific channels and then going "some people in the creator space didn't handle it very well," is certainly something.

[@naekosl3059]

LTT's Linus clearly likes to make his money with lots of MONETIZED video releases. It's why Linus released that video saying that people using adblockers are committing video piracy. I feel Linus stresses the churning out a large quantity of monetized videos. I remember the "old days" when there were fewer ridiculous topic videos and videos were more practical and informative instead of being entertainment.

[@augustinvaclavik6282]

​@@naekosl3059I clearly misjudged him when he said he is an ahole in the past, I would never expect it to show itself soo true, it seems he became the kind of figure he pretends to be outraged about, upon his come up as content creator he realized his desire to become an owner of a successful company and as I eluded before, sacrificed the ethics he likes to preach about. I may be overreacting since I'm prob looking too deep into this, nevertheless. Big disappointment

[@freakysnuke2571]

@@naekosl3059 the videos have more variety nowadays. They do more educational type videos _and_ more silly stuff that gets views (but that can bring you some interesting information along the way too). The older videos with limited budget had worse production quality and depth to it. It's maybe the way that it's presented does not make it look professional. I mean the early ltt videos were just talking about the specs of a product then showing some cobbled together benchmarks and overall not showing it from a lot of different angles and constructive and generalizing criticisms.

[@stevenpike7857]

Demonetized a video that got over 5.4 million views. I am impressed.

[@KainsAddiction]

Demonitized it at zero views, so not that impressive at all. Just a policy decision

[@ryanhanauska8883]

@@KainsAddiction what's impressive is their continued commitment to journalistic ethics and integrity that led to the policy to demonetize what was likely going to be one of their most popular videos

[@KainsAddiction]

@ryanhanauska8883 Naw. Just trying to dodge the inevitable accusation that they are creating drama for profit. EVERYTHING is CYA and liability dude. This idea that they're "good moral people" and "noble and altruistic" is laughable.

[@MrSkme]

@@ryanhanauska8883 Imagine starting the video by going "we won't monetize the video" then once it gets views they start monetizing it again. Not doing that isnt impressive but doing it would be egregious and destroy trust, especially on a video like this.

[@majorocelot3]

@@MrSkme Except, that hasn't happened. You and Kains are making scenarios up in your head to cope with LTT getting chewed out 💀

[@ben-brady]

The fact they sold a small company's best prototype just breaks my heart

[@stynger90]

It made me unsub from them

[@woodcutta6461]

How is that even legal? If the agreement was for them to review it and send it back, selling it seems like it should at least be illegal as it is proprietary tech.

[@sashko02]

I'm a big fan of LTT but they just opened themselves to a rightful lawsuit. Sad to see this happening.

[@MowMdown]

It's not legal to sell someone else's property, but what are they going to do? They probably don't have the time or money to fight LTT in a court room which would take months to resolve. @woodcutta6461

[@leovang3425]

​​​@@woodcutta6461it isn't but Billet Labs looks too small to afford to fight LMG.

[@cummerou1]

As a big LTT fan, the fact that they auctioned off the prototype water block that Billet labs very much needed AFTER they promised to send it back is despicable TBH. Absolutely zero excuse for doing that.

[@LamborghiniReven1000]

Made my blood boil purely because it's a prototype. On top of the fact that they didn't even use it properly, then criticized it. Crazy!

[@Wolfennsteinn]

Billet? EK water block for the win. Also support big corporations I am a Corp slave at the bottom.

[@WrathOfDragon.]

I noticed there seems to be a lack of communication in LTT since they got bigger... I didn't know this... or who approved that...

[@MisterMosfet]

If I was BilletLabs I would absolutely sue them out the wazoo for that one. Without even addressing the legality, selling prototypes of preproduction products is just so immoral and should absolutely be seen as a direct attack against BilletLabs business.

[@SioGG]

Linus legit just talked about the unacceptable behavior of one of their own prototypes ending up in a consumers hand but THIS is how they treat others' prototypes? Yikes

[@agedashicheddar3365]

Steve thank you for having the courage to do this, i know it's not easy. Stay strong my brother! I have bought GN merch all the way to Indonesia to support what you do!

[@damooseofmann9916]

I ended up sinking money into a laptop they recommended and basically got a laptop that spends more time being broken and sent in under warranty to be fixed then actually used by me for anything other then trying to re-install applications before it breaks again.

[@ShrekLaBeouf]

The Billet Labs thing was vile. They didn't follow the instructions from BL, tested on a different card, and didn't contact BL before releasing the video. Then they publicly shamed BL for issues caused by LTT's own mistakes. And if that wasn't enough, they sold the prototype even though they agreed - twice - to return it. The whole "it was for charity" excuse makes it seem that they don't believe they can be held accountable for their actions.

[@inkredebilchina9699]

I think a lawsuit would disagree with that "it was for charity" stance.

[@Nonafelactual]

Time to recommend a few lawyers looking for an easy payout

[@vhateverlie]

​@@inkredebilchina9699probably hard for a small company to come up with that kind of cash for a lawyer considering they just lost their product with all their hard R&D probably setting them back at least 6 months or more.

[@robaudi20v]

Sue there corporate ass

[@nikolaitoxvaerd]

Ltts i don't need to look at the Manual attitude really needs to stop it's embarrassing

[@ryank9306]

2M + views in 24 hours is big. Steve solo writing, hosting, and editing so no one else on the team could be under fire is also exactly the type of move you want to see from a leader.

[@rogerfinch7651]

And not taking a cent for it either…

[@afos88]

@@rogerfinch7651 But at the same time deserving all the donations from people here

[@chriswright8074]

​@@rogerfinch7651you don't know that just because say something doesn't mean it's true

[@spitfire3311]

@@chriswright8074the video is not monetized and he didn’t do a sponsor. how could he be making money?

[@MrPiimpslap]

@@spitfire3311 He's making money from Super Thanks.

[@josephbornman8462]

My time in the pc building social media space has been greatly improved since dropping LTT entirely when I watched this video when it came out Thanks again

[@rogehmarbi]

That bad, huh?

[@maximilianyuen]

4 months past, i didn't watch LTT since.

[@PurpleCh4lk]

Virtue singaling works wonders.

[@StrikeWarlock]

​@@PurpleCh4lkconsidering OP has nothing to gain reputation-wise, it shouldn't bother you. The only way it does is if you saw absolutely nothing wrong with how Linus was acting throughout the entire situation.

[@gabler7992]

@@StrikeWarlock still nothing to be proud of or worthy to share. I doubt anyone even care

[@lunova6165]

@@gabler7992 Do you know how youtube comments work? This is literally related to the topic of the video, and people upvoted his comment so people clearly do care. There are tons of people in this comment section saying how they unsubbed, or don't like LTT anymore. Tell me your a Linus fanboy without telling me you're a linus Fanboy. Sounds like you are just trying to cope hardcore.

[@gabler7992]

​@@lunova6165 oh my... I become Linus fanboy cause I don't giva a fuck if people are unsubscribing from them. go outside and get real

[@merevial]

The Billet Labs story was devastating to hear especially as someone who knows first hand how giant companies stomp all over small startups trying to provide new innovative products. Linus’s casual dismissal of actually trying to properly test the product by saying “it’ll cost money” is the most asinine thing I ever heard.

[@SupremeRuleroftheWorld]

the "it costs money" is always relevant, it being GN, LTT and especially small channels that dont have much to spend in the first place. if you dont consider the cost you wont make money wich means the channel/business cant exist.

[@nbdjdjshch6747hrhfuduen]

⁠@@SupremeRuleroftheWorldltt is not a small channel. Quit shilling ffs

[@Remi0dd6]

I think the scarier thing is that they auctioned off an active prototype. Imagine this was a company like Nvidia or amd. There would be lawyers and lawsuits lining up left and right if they even remotely did anything even remotely close to what they did with billet.

[@AxR558]

The real problem there is the LTX auction of the Billet Labs prototype. All their time and effort could easily be for nothing if a larger competitor bought it and released a cheaper clone of it to market before BL could - especially considering the R&D cost that BL will have had to go through to get to that point. I could see that ending up in front a judge under loss of earnings, breach of contract and trade secrets issues depending on what NDAs etc were in place around the LTT testing piece.

[@HermitGeek]

He chose the Fast and Cheap options on the triangle...

[@Straxus]

The fact that they not only kept but auctioned the prototype that they bashed is actually horrific.

[@Ravnican127]

Would like to add that Billet also sent them the proper GPU to test the cooler with. Apparently that is also MIA.

[@zurielviraj505]

Sounds like theft at the end of the day.

[@HyperVegitoDBZ]

and theft, they should have been sued immediately.

[@ploed]

After this I would think twice to send LTT any Prototype or EA without a contract stating to send it back to the owner.

[@dudebroguymate]

@@ploed After this I would think twice to send LTT any Prototype or EA fixed that for you

[@FantaBH]

It's amusing to me-I'm a 53-year-old who has been an avid KZbin viewer since its early days. Despite being a small creator with minimal success (which isn't my main point), I find it curious that I've never encountered your videos on KZbin. Videos from LTT always populate my homepage. While I'm subscribed to LTT, I haven't actively searched for their content. KZbin simply suggests their videos, and I watch, like, and subscribe. Yet, why haven't they recommended your content? That's my first query. Moreover, after listening to your insights, I've realized that many creators are actually companies employing numerous moderators. Some of these moderators can be remarkably rude and unfair. I encountered a significant issue with a large creator/company where, if you comment something they disagree with, your comment gets deleted. That's fine, but they reported it as spam, prompting a severe warning from KZbin. It felt disproportionate, as though I'd committed a serious offense. My comment wasn't against their content but simply expanded on a topic they mentioned. I'm still unsure what they disliked in my comment, yet it led to this unexpected reaction." Experiencing such events has made me fearful of commenting anywhere on KZbin. It's disheartening that seven years of hard work as a small creator could be erased in an instant just because someone doesn't agree with something I've said. I've always maintained a respectful approach in my comments, simply adding information or pointing out something that might have been missed. Yet, I fear the repercussions. Thank you for this video; it echoes sentiments I've harbored for a long time regarding LTT. However, I feel powerless to voice my opinion against such a big creator, fearing KZbin might silence me without allowing any defense. I genuinely appreciated your entire video and thank you for expressing what I've been feeling for so long.

[@mayamagick]

I just found his videos last week. Glad I found him.

[@Dysue]

Love the little cut out it's perfect 26:47

[@technewsfortechnoobs]

The irony of Linus admitting he would like more time to make quality content, and then actively denying someone that exact thing when requested.

[@MisterMayhem17]

I said NO! 😅😅😅

[@Ravnican127]

"But $100-500 is a lot of money guys, it would be a waste to go back and do things right!" -Multi-million dollar media company

[@AustinJPrice]

Linus: “I need more time” Employee: “can I have more time?” Linus: “no get back to work pay is too expensive” . . Also Linus: *renovating and kitting out his entire house with tech and latest and greatest gadgets*

[@Tekillyah]

@@Ravnican127 Recession hits everyone differently. I had to bang fat chicks for food stamps now.

[@theglowcloud2215]

Linus says whatever will play with people at any given time. He's become very good at currying sympathy from the people he's fucked over. The guy seems like a weasel.

[@RGehrig]

This video is peer review at its best. No personal attack, only facts and the deep desire for everyone to be better - all for the consumer.

[@SergioEduP]

Just the kind of thing we need in this kind of industry, independent reviewers not only checking the manufacturers claims but also cross checking other reviewers to make sure no one is full of shit. It is kinda sad that it is necessary but misinforming the customers will only hurt the whole industry in the long term.

[@DouglasWhitcomb]

We DESPERATELY need more of these. It only benefits us as viewers/consumers

[@Ttamlin]

Which, TBF, is kinda GN's whole schtick. "Look, here's what we know about a situation/product. No unnecessary drama, very little opinion (and what opinion is provided is backed up with extensive experience and data), just what we know to be true about the situation at hand." Of course, will people see it as such? Some will, for sure. Many, even. But there's bound to be that ever-vocal minority of fuckwits who just don't get it and need to make themselves heard.

[@Brockyman]

Well we watched a completely different video. There was shade thrown through the entire thing and bitching about insignificant errors. Nothing in the test errors would have hurt the overall reviews and didn’t hurt any customer

[@TealJosh]

@@Ttamlin The worst part of that ever-vocal minority is those who are currently absolutely raiding and dogpiling on LTT channels with non-constructive hate comments. It completely undermines the intentions this video. It's a bit of a shame that GN doesn't explicitly denounce and discourage such behaviour. Considering GN's attitude, they clearly don't endorse it.

[@Designsecrets]

You'd have to call this the video of the year.......no one has had a bigger impact on the tech community than this one video.......that helped raise the standard again.

[@Designsecrets]

@@deejrdee1 So LTT pushing out content that was factually wrong, month after month after month......then actually acknowledging they did so, and changing it to improve their systems, and even going so far as to say, if a video isn't right, they won't publish it until it is.....isn't raising the bar? Are you stupid? LTT are on record that they fd up and have to do better.

[@Designsecrets]

​@@deejrdee1 How is making a comment that this is the video of the year harassment? If you don't like free speech, you might want to get off the internet. If words hurt you, you might need to see a doctor.

[@Designsecrets]

@@deejrdee1 Are you abit thick in the head? LTT is on record saying Steve was right..they might not have agreed with EVERYTHING he discussed....on the whole he was right.....and because he was right, they made company changes to improve their content. Nothing to do with bullying. If words hurt you, you might want to retire from the internet.

[@christopherwood2290]

Are you twelve years old?@@deejrdee1

[@cobybloxham3231]

I know I’m late to the party, but this was my first watch through of this video and wanted to add my long story. I got into PC building because of LTT and still really enjoy their material as an entertainment company. When I first heard of this controversy, it sounded like mostly KZbin drama and I never watched this video and hadn’t watched this channel previously. As a biology researcher, I really appreciate your point about the data and testing inaccuracies. As a consumer, it is important to know the accurate data or components along with the real world application. I appreciate your informative take, even when it includes people that you have a personal relationship with. I still really enjoy LTT content and believe that there are many intelligent people working there and hope that this whole situation helps the company improve internal business practices. I won’t pretend to understand the business of a media group, but for me the key fact is that if you position yourself as a reviewer offering data driven reviews the data should be accurate and the test methods flushed out. I know the growing pains of a young lab and this conversation is important. Thank you for your willingness to have this difficult conversation. Subscribed.

[@patrickcrabb6212]

Selling the cooling block without consent and potentially giving it too their competitor all the while they sent it too you in the first place under good faith is such a deep cut. They just killed someone else's idea and potential lively hood because they couldn't be fucked giving a damn.

[@burrfoottopknot]

It was a crap move, after berating them (and not testing properly) they sold it off to a 3rd party who would / could clone it.

[@arcticowl1091]

Sounds like an easy lawsuit if they kept receipts. Linus really fucked up hardcore.

[@UncleKennysPlace]

@@burrfoottopknotThey sold someone else's intellectual property. That could, and should, be costly.

[@gamingSlasher]

Extremely surprised that such things happen. Ok I guess for a normal series product but for a prototype.....

[@technstuff126]

100%! Bad move LMG

[@da2967]

I love how it’s always obvious when Luke realizes Linus is going off the rails.

[@crisnmaryfam7344]

This is honestly the best part of the wan show.

[@agrisimfarming]

I could feel the anguish in his face as linus was speaking. Poor luke being dragged into all of this

[@l4kr]

@@agrisimfarming He's always so respectful about it too. Luke is a good and loyal man.

[@BramVanroy]

Luke always has been the more critical one. I just wish he'd speak up more on WAN show, although I suppose that after all this years he has given up going head to head with Linus.

[@sultanofsick]

Linus doesn't deserve Luke.

[@pandemic4275]

As not super tech person, I will never build my own pc. Some of nexus stuff goes over my head. So i sometimes watch other people. But nexus always summeries and trys to make it clear on what the average person should steer towards and trust the graphs that nexus puts up. Appreciate you guys, steering clear of ltt forever.

[@herpyderpyderp]

"this video is not monetized" 9 months later, 6M views. steve: "fuck..."

[@NotLuigi]

The stuff with Billet is actually so incredibly fucked up To have their prototype grossly misrepresented, slandered based on that misrepresentation and then to have their best prototype essentialy stolen and completely fucking up their R&D is honestly beyond words. LTT legitimately deserve to be sued for that

[@BillyBobDingledorf]

It could even be criminal.

[@bobsemple9341]

Do note however. That although it's claimed that the company communicated the theft. No evidence is shown for this

[@Bigdicko012]

I was thinking the same thing, absolutely disgusting and I won't be watching anything coming from LMG again.

[@DragonNexus]

Good luck as a start up suing a $100million company.

[@aerosw1ft]

​@@DragonNexusand that's the most fucked up thing in all of this.

[@AbeDillon]

Its strange that they justify misinformation by saying "nobody should buy it anyway" like that's LTT's choice to make.

[@theconsigliere8463]

TBF saying nobody should sounds more like opinion than making a choice for someone, sure as big as linus is his word is influential. that being said misinformation isnt a good look either

[@viperpit-lr2rp]

Also hence their trust me bro warranty. Ltt or lmg are asshats anyways.

[@parker73724]

Regaurdless of if someone will buy it, they clearly built it as a marketing tool for their other products. It's kinda like when an auto manufacturer builds a crazy concept car and has reviewers to look at it and show off their capabilities. Testing the product incorrectly defeats the point of the entire exercise.

[@stbo84]

@@parker73724they are clearly skilled guys looking at what they made, so this could ruin their whole business down the road.

[@tossacointoyourwitcherOriginal]

@@theconsigliere8463 His opinion is what people base their purchases on. He is not like you (a rando on the internet) whos opinion people have 0 reason to listen to let alone allow it to impact them.

[@xzaviar1965]

I've binge watched LTT from time to time over the years and have found this video rings true with what I've suspected for some time. I have been watching LTT for a couple days after not watching him for several years and I commented to my 22y/o nerd son that his channel has changed and that I found his old material much more trustworthy; I had this conversation with him before watching any video commentary such as this. I even told my son that Linus is a grown man with a slightly post pubescent maturity level; nothing personal, it's just what I see in him. I guess pushing 60y/o gives one an experiential perspective, haha. Bravo to you for speaking the truth.

[@volvo09]

Yeah, Linus it grown up, but still tries to put on that goofy / playful college kid persona. It's weird to me.

[@jonleibow3604]

They used to be decent but I noticed the quality dipping around the time they started with the reaction image thumbnails. If a channel has to resort to gimmicks, it tends to mean their content alone isn't quality enough to draw attention.

[@pcsecuritychannel]

Linus Tech Tips made a massively erroneous video about antivirus vs anti-malware, claiming that anti-malware was something different you needed when in truth antivirus is simply an antiquated term that vendors use (even though every product is technically anti-malware these days). Not only that, they used this misinformation to promote a sponsored product under false pretenses, you needed this product because 'antivirus' wasn't enough. It was such B.S that I made a correction video and reached out to them to help correct the factual issues in that sponsored content, but they never responded and ignored our emails.

[@aliancemd]

There is lots of misinformation in almost any sponsored video they make and almost all of them are sponsored.

[@Filthy_Casual5]

Dang

[@Sherolox]

Thank you, Leo.

[@robotninja530]

Maybe if they responded to you, they might've been able to avoid being hacked like they did. 🤷‍♂️🤦‍♂️

[@kirklanam151]

Maybe that statement would have been more factual if the video was published in 1999.

[@uttrik]

The billet labs chain of events was infuriating to watch. Can't believe they were that irresponsible with a startup's prototype.

[@supersuede91]

I feel sorry for Billet Labs

[@Itzryan288]

#Justiceforbilletlabs

[@kunicrossgaming]

I think we should hold our horses on that story, who would just send away their irreplaceable prototype without which you can't continue product development to some youtuber (even a big one). Not having the proper legal contracts and such I can see at a small 2 person company but from a engineering side you never ever let someone film your prototype unless you got the patents and everything and much less you're giving it outhouse. (unless you're super desperate for some funding and your project is basically dead in the water)

[@chrisbernecker]

Chill, they got cash, but GN "forgot" to mention it due to their amazing "investigative" journalism @@Itzryan288

[@alexander3364]

@@kunicrossgaming Bro, stop victim blaming, try to think if a big brand like Asus give Linus their $1000 GPU for them to test I would doubt his team would trash talk it after doing a faulty product representation then sell it away. What Billet Labs should have done should not be the center of discussion, what Linus has done should be.

[@barryjackson7404]

The biggest problem is they’re always trying to sell you a 70 dollar screwdriver

[@wlff88]

and a 250dollars backpack hahaha what a joke

[@Al_Fred009]

Thank you for the information. The days of LTT trying to put out quality information and videos are basically over. Sad days we live in. Hope your company never goes through this.

[@SpareSomeChange8080]

The Billet Labs bit was absolutely outrageous. How on earth can Linus defend selling someone else's prototype despite agreeing twice they'd return it?!

[@No-jb6fy]

I don't really care much for technology, but how this startup was treated is unfair and highly pretentious, it reeks of privilege. I find it offensive. It's time for some humility. They should change their ways. Steve is really some consumer advocate. A real honest video.

[@r4gequitter389]

Selling someone else's prototype after absolutely demolishing it in their video for its "worst value" and then doubling down on their mistake is just scummy.

[@copperfield3629]

@@gramma677 That throwaway comment was just further evidence of a bad attitude on the part of one member of Labs. The real mistakes were in the terrible test results which were portrayed as accurate despite being fundamentally flawed. Deliberately putting out videos based on the shoddy testing and causing viewers to make misguided decisions about significant purchases is just unprofessional, for any tech channel and especially one with such a huge following.

[@retroa-go-go6888]

It's disgraceful, especially for a small company trying to make quality products, then Linus butchers the whole thing, doubles, then triples down saying a Multi-Million dollar company can't be bothered to use the right GPU and it may cost him $100-$500 to rectify it, no ethics there and blatant disregard for Billet Labs that could seriously damage them financially. Shame on LMG.

[@ChandupaHerath]

Ooh the average Linus stan

[@MrMecrob1]

The timing on this video is really interesting since Linus just talked about, on the LAN show, how content creators don't get held accountable for unethical behavior because their fan base enables them to live in their own little echo chamber.

[@chasedooley6237]

Incredible. And what does he do when called out? Runs to his echo chamber, doubles down, and plays victim. Talk about a lack of integrity

[@Ginkoman2]

i mean he already pulled linus on their forum saying that the video is right but that is not that bad. he says they havent sold the prototype but auctioned it off for charity, as if that would be any better.

[@joujou264]

​@@chasedooley6237Narcissists are experts at spotting the flaws that they are themselves guilty of.

[@TheAtomicSpoon]

@@Ginkoman2 A very Linus answer. Thing is still gone regardless, don't know why he thought it'd make a friggin' difference *how* it was sold off.

[@dudder2008]

@@Ginkoman2 thats still stealing and selling it ?

[@h3h3umm]

This video needs more views. The spread of inaccurate information needs to be addressed and stopped. Also the responses from LTT were disgusting

[@mitchelhinz5079]

I would have liked to see Gamers Nexus try to recreate supposed downfalls of the items that were "unboxed" by LTT like the mouse or watercooler if possible.

[@Safasfly]

The billet labs situation sounds like a massive lawsuit to me. A company loaning a proprietary prototype under assumption and assurance of getting said prototype back. And then finding out, after 2 separate promises to return it, that it has been sold off on auction to a potential competitor?? Might be multi million dollar lawsuit.

[@m4nt1c0r3s]

Doubt they had a comprehensive legal framework signed being just 2 guys starting up less than a year ago, probably was sent on trust. Now they know.

[@Storbuki]

Good thing that in civil court you don't have to prove anything, you just have to show that the damage to the brand/startup was likely.@@m4nt1c0r3s

[@tarstarkusz]

Lawsuit? it's a crime. Given the value it likely has, it's a felony. They can sue and likely (depends on the state) is entitled to 3 times the value.

[@enginelol]

@@tarstarkusz it's not about the value of it, it's about the possibility it fell into the hands of the competition. all that R&D done, for nothing

[@TheSergio1021]

​@@m4nt1c0r3spretty sure they still have a case to be argued considering the fact that they have VIDEO EVIDENCE of them using the prototype, and not sending it back. Which at the very least they can argue that their unfair review dealt significant damage to their startup company

[@Sharrakor6]

Holy crap the situation with Billet labs is insane. Horrifying how terribly Billet labs were treated hope things have turned around for them.

[@Greenberet.]

holly s*** that was infuriating to say the least...was bad enough to test the thing wrong but sold a prototype without any permission to potential competition...what the actual fu**!

[@JohnVanderbeck]

LMG should be charged with theft

[@Kytori95]

Why tf would they sent their "best" prototype, sounds like a dumb move.

[@brotherfranciz]

​@@Kytori95Why WOULDN'T you send your best prototype? Who the heck would send their 2nd best prototype to be tested by a big reviewer?

[@sniperhawk6969]

@@Kytori95 if your product is going to be reviewed by a large tech outlet, and that is the most publicity that your small startup is going to get, it wouldn’t make sense for them to send a sub-par prototype for review, no? Given LTT’s general reputation and size, I’m sure they trusted them to handle their prototype with care, and not do something like “auction” it away lol

[@smplchmp]

Very professional and informative video. Thank you for integrity and for taking the time to compile and present this in an objective way.

[@KyleShef]

LTT can't spend hundreds to correct a video but Steve can make and release a video that's gonna get millions of views and not even monetize it in any way and get paid for his bold efforts. Truly exceptional.

[@CR7Ashironaldo]

Ethics and Values are hard to find these days

[@user-dz3sq9bf6s]

He still getting money off the video you can’t demonetized a video

[@user-dz3sq9bf6s]

@@CR7Ashironaldothese KZbinrs make millions and millions of dollars ya know but you can’t demonize a video KZbin doesn’t give you option when you upload video if it’s gets monetized or not I upload videos and get 1000s of views but they don’t do that so he still getting paid

[@KeiS14]

@@user-dz3sq9bf6swhat are you talking about? Turning off ads for a video is as simple as clicking a button in the upload page.

[@ItsClint]

​@@user-dz3sq9bf6smy guy, what in the world are you talking about. You obviously can remove advertisements on/from videos. Both by dodging a paid advert, and by disabling normal KZbin ads.

[@Outrider42]

The Billet Labs situation is simply inexcusable. Like I can let a lot of other stuff slide, but they not only screwed up the testing and refused to acknowledge it, they illegally sold the prototype. And acted like total pricks on top of that. WTF is the deal?

[@martinseal1987]

Yh this is the most egregious to me, Linus can be a prick, (like any of us tbf) and he's quite stubborn sometimes, (again also true of myself) but this one he needed to reflect and for some reason couldn't obviously more to this story

[@matasa7463]

Agreed - I don’t care how much it costs, they need to get the block back. If the block landed in the hands of a competitor or malicious Chinese product cloning company… holy shit, they’re in hot waters.

[@JustVoylin]

LTT is the company who often says "We like there to be more competition" ... but new startups pop up and get broken down like that. I really wished they would have taken proper time to make the video with the gpu it was intended for and gave that company more of a fair shot.

[@DavidJJJ]

To be fair Linus has responded directly saying this was an accident and they weren't aware that the company wanted the part back and will pay them for the agreed price of the prototype.

[@quasistellar]

It's Linus's true colors on display for all to see. This isn't new, but now it's just gotten way more serious. You can be a moronic asshole when it's just "for entertainment", but if you're doing legit reviews, that shit won't fly and can get you into real legal trouble.

[@WPTheRabbitHole]

14:07 thank you for pointing this out. *im not the most technical guy out there, and this had me worried about my new 8gb video card because i didn't have "re-bar" or something

[@TheDyingFox]

It's like LTT/LMG have gone "The Verge" route...

[@Dwayneff]

that's not good.

[@kcvortex]

Drama aside, I think it's important that competing reviewers hold each other accountable for the sake of the consumer.

[@johngoodman5094]

Something that concerns me is that Linus's reply to this basically says "Steve didn't follow journalistic practices by contacting me and letting me rebut these claims before publishing". Does this mean Linus thinks "proper journalistic / professional practices" include notifying your buddies about something bad you discovered about them and let them downplay it before your piece even comes out? What school of journalism did Linus go to? He is confusing professionalism with buddy buddy relationships and perhaps that is permeating the entire structure of his organization.

[@MarNieCo]

@@johngoodman5094 Well in a lot of cases you do ask the entity you're writing about to make a statement just before you publish, to give them a chance to comment on allegations. Now it doesn't have to be that way, but in this case I probably would have said it would have been better had GN done it.

[@juhoukkola2306]

​@@johngoodman5094on top of that, Linus doesn't follow any of those practices himself.

[@ReinaldoRauch]

there is no drama

[@CWG_1995]

@MarNieCo maybe but did linus reach out before publishing the video on the water block? And if he thought the price was its big problem and no amount of performance improvement would change that stance why make a video on it at all? Also does he reach out to computer manufacturers before uploading his secret shopper videos? Same sort of journalistic coverage, does he give them a chance to defend themselves before posting a video putting them on blast for any number of reasons?

[@john_john_john]

We can't antagonize videogame companies for releasing unfinished products (which we are justified to do) while accepting LMG releasing unfinished and known erroneous tests. Creators like GN have shown you can be ethical and thorough, we must demand better.

[@DiustheZ]

Everyone and every company has or will make mistakes, some of them not so serious and some are. You shouldn't be judged for those mistakes but how you respond to them and so far LTT has a pretty good reputation for response time and quality.

[@danielchettiar5670]

​@@DiustheZLinus' response on the LTT forums (coward) has been nothing but smells just like the typical letter that a huge AAA studio puts out after a bad release, "we're just a small indie dev studio bro", "I hope Steve can stop his bitching and come back into the Team Media fray" Fck the guy and his ego

[@David-qy4kc]

@@DiustheZ that’s funny lol

[@Superkirbeh]

@@DiustheZYou missed the part where IT WASNT A MISTAKE. HE KNEW IT WAS WRONG AND DID IT ANYWAYS. Did you even know what happened? LOL

[@mukkaar]

This is stupid statement, you can, and should.

[@user-qu5gs8ly5i]

the fact that billet lab did not sue ltt should let them know that they got off lucky

[@ChefEarthenware]

The one with the water block was the worst. That is being copied somewhere now.

[@lavender188]

I dont care if I've been a linus fan for a long time, accountability is important. thank you for bringing this to light.

[@stynger90]

Agreed the bullet labs thing made me unsubscribe.

[@iceman5117]

You could've done a lot better with $20 than giving it to a corp

[@blurryface9910]

@@iceman5117 What he does with his money is his business. Even if he wants to support Kayne it has no affect on you.

[@jirinaforever]

​@@iceman5117, bruh, you mad that Linus got a reality check? The whole tech community is better for it. I watched Linus for almost a decade and having him slip into disinfo and butthurt takes when people call him out is heartbreaking. Linus was supposed to be one of the trusted sources and now he started turning into what we hated about tech KZbin back in the day. He should be thanking Steve and not butthurting over his faults that affect countless consumers.

[@iceman5117]

@@jirinaforever I don't care about Linus in the slightest

[@andybrooks4070]

The most impactful thing from this video to me was the whole billet labs water block situation, it actually breaks my heart

[@dukekemppy5409]

I wonder what will stop them putting in a complaint for something like corporate espionage

[@SquidGains]

Yeah that was slimy and tough to see

[@RozzoFX]

That was pretty much an execution without fair trial, absolutely insane. I went into this controversy with the "people make mistakes" mindset but this is hard to explain with that.

[@kamilwierzbicki3624]

They sold it on an auction, that was so disrespectful

[@Arghans]

This was the part that sticks. Never heard of the company but the idea looks interesting.

[@JerryBanks572]

I knew it. It took years but he finally got too arrogant to hide it behind his 'nice boy' persona.

[@nihel3144]

How the hell do you notice that your mouse is resisting movement too much and not immediately go to check weather there is something stuck to the bottom? There are no excuses for that, its just plain bad production quality, a 15 yo timmy that spent the previous 16 years of his life watching tiktoks and ruining his attention span would pay more attention to this

[@alexwinfield9540]

A 15 yo that has spent 16 years watching tik toks? Does he have a time machine? Have you ruined your attention span being a dumbass?

[@KSavov]

No words can describe the anger and disapoinment I felt when hearing about Billet Labs' waterblock. I can't begin to imagine how those guys felt..

[@serveos]

Yea I honestly surprised really hoping this won't shut them down just because of laziness or incompetence

[@filip9587]

Linus did say they compensated them, but there are some things money can't replace, especially prototypes.

[@psvm_]

This is the first I've heard of it. I'm flabbergasted. Are there any legal actions they could take as, I would assume, that was their proprietary IP? LMG should be held accountable for their actions, it's shocking

[@ChrisUKFF]

@@filip9587 Not to mention the harm to their reputation due to a lazy and incompetent review no "token" figure of compensation can fix that. If it was in the US they'd be able to sue for "punitive" damages and probably win given the situation.

[@Soosss]

@@filip9587especially since there were people from other companies there that specialize in coolers.. they may have sold off a prototype that wasn’t their property to a corporate rival. Insanity

[@ToaRocky]

Been watching LTT for about ten years. Went from learning to build my first PC from them to becoming a cpu design engineer at AMD. In the past year or so, I had felt like that content had started to go down hill, but couldn’t put my finger on what exactly. This video does a good job summing up information in the least inflammatory way.

[@slappymcphee]

#lmgcaneffrightoff

[@Coreman221]

@toarocky do you work with the cpu's for the Frontier supercomputer?

[@burrybondz225]

What did you take at school to become a cpu design engineer? What masters?

[@ToaRocky]

@@burrybondz225 just have my undergraduate degree in electrical engineer

[@joseph4964]

took the words right out of my mouth

[@uTube00789]

Saw it coming. LTT was always about churning out tech "entertainment" videos super fast, not in depth analysis.

[@Babylonbadders]

What they did to Billet Labs was just disgraceful, and highlights to me there's a fundamental problem with how the company's run. I haven't watched any of their content since I found out about it. Watching this vid, well wow, I can't trust any of their reviews, so that was a good decision on my part. Thanks for getting this out there.

[@Nick-zm2vm]

A multimillion dollar company refusing to spend less than $1,000 to retest a product for accurate results is wild. The way he said it makes it sound like he thought it was completely ridiculous to spend a few hundred dollars to do things the right way.

[@Miko_of_the_North]

That would mean he couldn't make his heated floors be cooled floors next summer and a city where the average 2 bedroom condo is over 1M. So he needs every penny. To bad Canada stopped making pennies but that is good news for him because he is no longer getting copper posing from pinching them so hard.

[@tsjeriAu]

Remember when he was justifying purchasing the stand for an apple computer at $1000 (since it didn't come with a stand for the monitor...) because it was a "small business expense compared to the cost of the computer"? Yeah, that was cringe back then, and even more so now.

[@peterharper3861]

Suggesting that a tentpole project that is meant to be "weird and unique" is a waste of money, while testing it incorrectly, and at the same time producing videos about $100k desks. It's massive hypocricy.

[@protennis365]

Will I call this the Hasan Piker curse.

[@WhosThisPersonNotMe]

Linus has a massive ego and doesn’t care about anyone else accept himself

[@yiga4171]

The way Linus handled Billet Labs prototype is beyond fucked up.

[@buggerlugz6753]

yeah, if he wasn't the brains behind the company he's have been fired.

[@BigEightiesNewWave]

FUBR Beyond Repair

[@RenanMsV_YT]

soon another "competitor" will appear and he will say good things about it. watch and see.

[@Numenorean921]

Arrogant POS, he's a millionaire that took a small companies prototype, trashed it to his massive audience destroying their reputation, and then didn't even have the decency to give it back to them.

[@NeilSearle]

Not trying to be on anyone's side here but Linus didn't handle the prototype, he has a company of over 100 people and other people would have been handling it. The way Linus Media Group handled it was poor.

[@mSTRMNDi]

too bad such things are already forgotten in two weeks

[@fartamplifer]

The problem is LTT has said several times that their business is entertainment. Accuracy is secondary.

[@logandarnell8946]

doesn't matter when they position themselves repeatedly as a tech review company and give strong recommendations citing their "cutting edge data." that just means they are knowingly deceiving people.

[@fartamplifer]

@@logandarnell8946 I agree. My point was that they position themselves as “tech experts” to their audience but say their main business is entertainment, not accuracy, whenever they get questioned about stuff like this.

[@dartagnan4039]

Mad Respect for being what they gamers actually need. A well spoken, highly attentive, and critically eyed consumer advocate.

[@jioriku]

​@@ytv6770cope.

[@dartagnan4039]

@@ytv6770 lol Hey bro, how is the therapy for your mommy issues going?

[@masamune..]

​@@ytv6770glad you're not in charge then. Gaming is a fantastic way to relieve stress, enjoy stories, and improve hand dexterity/visual acuity.

[@trowawayacc]

Yet why now? Why wait? The ammount of stuff revealed here is is so huge.

[@dartagnan4039]

@@trowawayacc likely assumption of error until proven incompetent, and there were likely back channel convos about "this issue" or "that issue" with bad communication and follow through that piled up. We do have to remember this IS a fairly adhawk space, so screw ups are probable, not just plausible. But at a certain point the degree/regularity of misguided behavior becomes a part of the convo, at that point you have to be less forgiving of failure and start addressing how common its becoming. A useful term here is "normalization of deviance bias" and it resulted in the Challenger space shuttle blowing up, I think he's trying to save some astronauts.

[@Alex-bx3st]

Imagine saying that a product is bad when you misuse it completely then selling it in an auction... insane.

[@s-x5373]

illegally *, and with great damage to an actually tech company

[@Orphioux]

Linus should have spun this into a video for some good PR, fly one of the billet guys out to show the build off properly and put all the drama behind them. ETA: As well as properly compensating them of course. with how viral this has gotten it'd still be deep in the green.

[@peter65zzfdfh]

True. Though his comments were taken out of context here. He said no one spends that much on a block for a 3090, if you’re spending that much you’d have a 4090. The video should probably not have got out, but Steve here is misrepresenting and selectively editing Linus’s comments. You could make the argument without misrepresenting what Linus said.

[@gpsxsirus]

This is the thing that really gets me. It wreaks of intentionally screwing over a small startup.

[@Gabu_]

Imagine making something for rich people and then complaining when it gets called useless.

[@mavtaco9394]

The pompous facial expressions while defending their bs perfectly displays their attitude towards criticism and clearly show how full of themselves they have become.

[@TheSkubna]

Watching Linus is still fun, not gonna make me quit lol. I will say, gamers nexus has the goods. You guys get props from me, your reviews are very well put together, and I don't feel you guys go out of your way to do harm. The information you give out is always very professional, and watching you in your interviews also come off as very professional work. Keep up all the good work you guys do, everyone needs to get scrutiny from time to time, to help keep their heads from getting too big

[@realablesafe9337]

L

[@GregM]

MY heart sank when I heard that they auctioned off the prototype of the cooling block. A small company can die with mishaps that they had no control over and communicated several times that the protype needed to be sent back.

[@letmelick]

Only for it to end up in a new gpu design in a couple of years🙃

[@md.al-razi3046]

that would have been their right to do ... linus tech tips is shit. glad i stopped watching years ago @@letmelick

[@2nd_Directorate]

@@letmelick Probably ASUS....

[@GregM]

@@letmelick yup. It seems the inventory control system if one exists at LMG seems to hapzard at best with no one logging whether products are loaned out and returned etc no chain of custody so to speak. The requirement of the block being returned should of been included in this inventory control system. When an item is destroyed or sold that item should be removed from the inventory control system and should of raised a Red flag and prevented that item from leaving LMG possession and being auctioned off.

[@MicahJKelly]

I hope nobody trusts LMG for reviews ever again. Itll just be the companies they have connections with and then they will become a meme.

[@BrightPage174]

My heart goes out to Billet Labs. Completely fucked over by Linus' lack of care towards anything but his company's bottom line

[@TheHighborn]

I don't think Linus gives a shit. What he cares about is sucking up to Asus.

[@iHaveTheDocuments]

No single man gets as over powered as him without being kinda trash. Just a pattern I've noticed

[@L1ft0ff]

Fully knowing that Billet can't sue LTT because the outrage and following harassment from LTT's stans would ruin them... Disgusting.

[@Dark.Syndicate]

@@L1ft0ff If they have no other choice, maybe they should trying suing.

[@SiD3WiNDR]

I wonder if they could send LMG a massive invoice for the missing prototype...

[@Gabson9]

First video of that guy i saw was him installing something improperly, therefore it worked improperly, and his conclusion was that he does not recommend it, because it does not work properly. Although it was all his fault from the begining, and he was not even hiding it. Couple of years later i saw him gaining 10million subs and i was like yo wtf how is possible that a pure lame guy becomes a "pro-tech guy" just by not stopping making videos. Since then i never trust any youtuber/influencer/orwhatever just because of his/its popularity.

[@landoncharlton7071]

I used to love LTT but after watching correction after correction come up as a simple "*" on screen, I began to realise that they aren't doing retakes. If you are looking for data and reading one set of points while they are saying another set of numbers makes it difficult when you think they are being accurate and diligent. Also, him not doing the billet labs test correctly or even trying to get it right while doubling down just makes me want to order a block from billet labs to support them since I trust them more then I do LMG now. There are countless examples why as you yourself pointed out quite excellently.

[@uumuu]

LTT doesn't feel like a KZbin channel anymore, it's just a corporation now. And for journalistic integrity, having cooperate connections isn't an asset, it's a drawback.

[@straightup7up]

I know exactly how you feel - LTT comes off as fake and hyper-commercialized; their best days are over.

[@utubepunk]

I think you nailed it.

[@geoff4009]

Oh, I thought the entire channel was just an advert for LTT store!

[@HyperVegitoDBZ]

Corproation and integrity is something that never occurs in the same sentence.

[@Shaboomquisa]

yeah Linus is watching too many self help run a corporation with buzzwords here and there and diversity bs. that life is lame and getting woke

[@Skastrik]

This is a very much needed video to encourage Linus to face what he's been encouraging us to do for years. To call out companies for wrongdoing and misrepresentation.

[@JJFN]

Guy is an absolute hypocrite

[@chapprod9074]

Had not thought of the irony about it but it's damn true!

[@james-jo5ju]

I knew that pitchfork I got on Prime Day would come in handy, I knew it 😡

[@guest00101]

But he doesn't want to spend time/money to undo their wrongdoing because 100, 200, 300, 400, or even 500$ to pay someone isn't worth their time.

[@jasenrock]

You didn't find out his a hypocrite with the "trust me bro" shit

[@nicksmall7467]

i remember a friend way back directing me to linus for pc related insight and from a very early stage my response was that it seems very much uninformed and kinda cringy in respect to it being an acted video rather than a true technical video. Thanks tech jesus you and jay are the only two i truly trust

[@Vergial1986]

I could listen to you for hours. It helps that I learn something every time, but you got a good voice for this.

[@DoRC]

I've noticed that over the last couple of years LTT seems to be moving further and further away from serious review and more and more toward being an entertainment channel. I get it. Entertainment is where the most money is but they're still purporting themselves to be a serious channel so it definitely has the potential to be problematic.

[@Ordo1980]

It was especially strange after they advertised themselves with the new lab what they are working on.

[@PSYCHOV3N0M]

Agreed 100% with your entire comment. I've noticed that too.

[@furythree]

Its always been entertainment Linus focused on engaging nerdy entertaining shit with access to latest tech. You would go to other channels to find the intricate nerdy specsheet stuff cause ltt didn't focus on that anymore I find it more atrocious ppl attacking ltt in these comments as if they're some big bad corpo doing this on purpose its more that they've grown such a huge influence they need to take their QC more seriously than ever

[@furythree]

​@@Ordo1980but its not fully finalised. This al reads to me as they started up labs and haven't refined their QC enough Doesnt excuse the errors but its not malicious or anything

[@Killerpixel11]

@@furythree They ARE doing it on purpose. Have you seen the interviews? They ALL know it, even Linus himself. Knowing there's a problem and not fixing it (when the fix is quite obvious) means you keep doing it on purpose.

[@IcedPTO]

This is tragic for the guys at Billet Labs. Hopefully they can recover from all of this.

[@LilMissMurder3409]

I hope the Streissand Effect hits them with a vengeance.

[@spiritcrunch]

They have grounds for a lawsuit. Defamation and theft. Sadly, two small guys can't afford what it costs to defend themselves in court.

[@medallish]

Actually made me mad seeing how they got treated..

[@CatalystDestiny]

Have to agree with this. With how fickle consumers are these days, who knows just how many wrote them off completely and will NEVER give them a chance because of the classic saying "You never get a second chance at a first impression" and their first impression has been wrecked pretty hard, plus with their prototype being auctioned off that probably now is already at some fab being reverse engineered to be cloned. I wish them the best and hope they can recover in some way from this, perhaps at least on the part of not having card access GN might have some connections to possibly help them get a high end card like a 4090 or something for their lab to at least help with that, replacing that best sample prototype though is going to be hell.

[@kena4977]

Honestly, out of everything in this video this was by far the worst for me. They bashed a small company based on using it with the wrong product, kept the product so no other reviewers or media could also use and test, then turned around and stole an expensive prototype and sold it into the wild potentially for a competitor to buy. That is crazy.

[@WhatsGahd]

LTT is the family guy of new tech / reviews on yt. People watch it but i hope nobody takes their advice as law.

[@Zaiqukaj]

after KZbin suggested these guys for 2 videos it then suggested this video. Im thankful for you making this.

[@oxysz]

Damn as a small business owner the waterblock part hit hard . I can’t imagine them seeing that video. They must of been so damn happy to get LTT to make a video and then they see what they did and never talked to them … wow.

[@enzog1078]

Yeah that shook me. I actually was mouthing to my self oh my god that’s messed up.

[@sjosto]

Linus and his YT are a joke anyways. It's for entertainment, not value. And it took me a week of watching his videos to realize it's like listening to a Canadian Pee-Wee Herman half-ass product reviews. It's that obvious.

[@Farmer_G.]

Yeah, the fact they even continued to record the video once they realised they didn't have the correct GPU (which Billet Labs had also sent them) was bad enough, but to then double down on their conclusions is unforgivable as these were all conscious decisions that they made and not just mistakes.

[@TheThomSirveaux]

@@Farmer_G. I have a friend who works for a major player in the PC accessory market, and after LTT absolutely trashed one of their products, I reached out and was like, "WTF?" My buddy called me, said that they sent him the review product and worked with his team on some of the script (specs and stuff) in order to get an honest review... almost a year before the video was made. LTT/LMG apparently started demanding certain things, for the company to sponsor X number of videos at $X0,000 for the year, and they said "No, we can't do that." So, they released a really quick "review" where they simply called the thing garbage and told people not to buy it... and then listed one of the company's competitors as the sponsor for that "episode." Absolutely ridiculous.

[@abumuad]

Yeah that's what bothered me most. It really sucks. They have always seemed to be better. I hope they can figure stuff out and bounce back.

[@22Vnnami]

The Billet Labs bit wasn’t just upsetting, that was infuriating. They sold out what was probably a few people’s hopes/dream project.

[@theodricaethelfrith]

I still can't get over them just stealing a piece of review hardware and selling it. Surely theft and sale of stolen goods lands you in front of a judge in Canadia(?)

[@Nanox0]

@@theodricaethelfrith they didn’t sell it, they auctioned it. xD

[@theodricaethelfrith]

@@Nanox0 a distinction without a difference in the law

[@akshitasrivastav8272]

and countless hours of RnD

[@mattc9598]

A judge in Canada is about as useless a cop in Canada@@theodricaethelfrith plus i doubt Billet wants to spend the next 4 years awaiting a trial

[@unloveableandre]

When Linus used on a video a free copy of OCCT. On same breath, "Ad blocking is piracy!"

[@logandarnell8946]

such a disgusting take too, like you are legally required to sacrifice your time for ads in his diseased little corporate mind.

[@unloveableandre]

@@logandarnell8946 he lies all the time, when he set up Pi-Hole, for ad-blocking using Raspberry Pi, it blocked ads on phone, TV, PC, all good, but the lie was KZbin. You cannot block YT ads via Pi Hole. Such a lie

[@Ransomeware1]

I honestly come to GN for in-depth analysis. This is probably the only channel that goes into a deep dive on all products they review. Thank you GN for everything.

[@matthewhiatt5738]

Much respect. Integrity can cost a lot. A lack of it can cost everything.

[@The.Pickle]

Well said 👍

[@anicetomaldonado]

Just ask Noah Kats from Artesian

[@Creeezzz777]

GREAT QUOTE

[@jottenmiller]

"I'm not going to apologize for not being willing to spend another $100... on an employees time" "We want to a reliable source!" Great job linus.

[@B20C0]

Really weird. Spends thousands of dollars on testing equipment to be super accurate and then has the worst QA ever and isn't willing to spend a small fraction for a correction which would a) make money if it was a second video and b) increase their credibility, the reason they spent thousands of dollars on testing equipment in the first place. Doesn't make any sense to me but kinda reminds me of my old boss. Spent thousands of Euros on on office equipment, paid great wages but didn't want to invest in a new server or move to the cloud. At the time I told him we need an upgrade we had more than 2k users on our platform and when we started it was like 100. The server had a quad core and like 4 GB of RAM. He finally approved the upgrade when we had like 12k users and the server load was 70% at the lowest time, pretty much 100% the rest of the time and a lot of customers and coworkers complained about the site crashing. We lost more users due to this than a new pair of servers (or moving to the cloud) would have cost. Sometimes bosses are weird.

[@CookieManCookies]

I think he should go back to painting houses, honestly. I feel like he's a grown up man baby who breaks, and janks with things without actually providing reliable info on products. He also has a big ego, it's a bit unnerving.

[@M21assult]

Part of the video (that I think was important) was clipped out. Watch Linus’ full reaction on WAN show if you haven’t. Luke had the better reaction that was included though. Nobody should buy it because it’s too expensive. That is a much more valid reason to not spend the money on re-creating the video. ‘I can’t redo this video because with the information I have now, I wouldn’t have reviewed this to begin with, (and the conclusion would be the same.)’ Is a valid reason. A cooler has to perform magic to justify $850, and it doesn’t. Removing that video likely would have been a kindness to the company, but after the take on the last WAN show about CNET removing old content, he would have got roasted for that move too. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Linus also owes Billet a very very large chunk of change for selling their prototype. Uncool. By far the MOST unprofessional conduct covered degrees by GN.

[@lil_crossgg1029]

@@CookieManCookiesthis is just a hate comment nothing to do with the video 😂

[@frostykeys4469]

Pretty much unforgivable

[@michaeldelorenzo9010]

Wow. I have made numerous decisions based on LTT but sadly no more. JTC hit the nail on the head. Stating that your company is worth $100 million and you aren't willing to spend an infinitesimal amount of money relative to that to do something PROPERLY is simply poor business.

[@maxsaldana2027]

As a huge LTT fan. This video was sorely needed and professionally brought attention to stuff i didnt even notice. Ive felt something has been off with ltt but paid no mind. Stellar video.

[@tylerbroyles4104]

agreed, especially the billet situation is INSANE to me and Billet should definitely take legal actions against LMG for selling their prototype aswell as slander chargers for knowingly using their product incorrectly.

[@volvo09]

I go to them for entertainment, not objective data. I think they put too much effort into appealing to a younger crowd (no problem with that at all), and trying to get involved in WAY too many things... Selling tons of merch, expanding the test lab, the company has rapidly expanded rather than matured and gotten better in what they do, if you get what I'm saying.

[@beausmith9023]

i have been an LTT fan for some time and its hard to see that it feels like a Rooster teeth event about to happen..

[@Picklgreen]

Linus is a total fraud and always has been. Watch his first year of videos. Total joke. He started as a clueless little spoiled rich kid who thought he could show off his “knowledge” of the stuff daddy bought him.

[@Haarschmuckfachgeschafttadpole]

I just don't understand how they auctioned off a prototype. That has to be illegal, it was never theirs. And to think a competitor may have bought it...

[@MrWhitelight54]

What they did to Billet Labs is appalling, shame on LTT.

[@DimitriMoreira]

Yep. Simply absurd. I hope the guys over there can rebuild and find their market even if it takes a little longer. LMG is responsible for this and should be held accountable.

[@Juke-Redlin]

I feel like a lawyer should be involved in that. There's no way they 'gave it to them' and LTT made claims that we can literally, in this video, see are demonstrably inaccurate and dealt damage to billets prospects and ability to continue operating.

[@mintyproductions]

Won't be surprised if they launch a law suit, loosing the prototype must have really hurt their business opportunities and possibility of further development

[@Doesntcompute2k]

It's criminal.

[@forbiddengod1]

Honestly they way they did the review, was not optimal i agree, but i think they made it clear that they are testing it the wrong way. What i think is not excusable at all, is the fact that they did not return the sample. And even worst, they auction it. That should be flipin illegal, not to mention totally stupid. This is a prototype, why on earth you think is good idea to give it away! Now i understand why big companies have such big legal teams and do not do anything without 100 papers signed. And i count myself as fan of LTT (floatplane and all), but this is not cool at all, and will definitely try to get answer from them, because this is big IMO.

[@Ensue85A]

I've noticed a lot of this sort of thing in LTT's videos most recently. I'm disappointed and have searching for other venues that try wild things with tech...still looking. Do you have any suggestions?

[@lao_mengrai]

I got to know about this "situation" only now, wasn't aware such unfortunate issues happening...