Gamers Nexus vs. Linus Tech Tips Billet Labs Review Controversy

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Overview

Gamers Nexus vs. Linus Tech Tips Billet Labs Review Controversy refers to a public dispute between tech YouTubers Gamers Nexus and Linus Tech Tips. In mid-August 2023, Gamers Nexus posted a YouTube video criticizing Linus Tech Tips (LTT) and accusing his company Linus Media Group (LMG) of forgoing proper reviewing practices due to time crunches and business partnerships. Gamers Nexus drew attention to Linus's review of a prototype by Billet Labs in which Linus reportedly used the wrong equipment to test the product and subsequently sold off the one-of-a-kind prototype against the company's wishes. The controversy garnered significant attention online, with many criticizing LTT and making memes about the drama.

Background

On August 14th, 2023, YouTuber^[1] Stephen "Steve" Burke of Gamers Nexus posted a video titled "The Problem with Linus Tech Tips: Accuracy, Ethics, & Responsibility" in which he discussed issues he had noticed with reviews presented by Linus Sebastian and the employees of his media company Linus Media Group (LMG). The video gathered over 2 million views in less than 24 hours (seen below).

Gamers Nexus presented issues LMG employees reportedly faced with time crunches, as seen and discussed by interviews with said employees. Such deadlines purportedly hindered Linus Tech Tips videos from being able to issue corrections or rerecord incorrect content.

In one instance, an LMG employee negatively reviewed a mouse without removing the protective tape covering the sensor. Gamers Nexus also claimed that Linus had a tendency to favorably review products from the laptop company Framework after investing money into it.

A major concern Gamers Nexus highlighted was Linus Tech Tips's June 24th, 2023, review of a product prototype by Billet Labs^[2] in which they used an incompatible piece of technology despite Billet Labs reportedly having been clear about the specifications the product needs to work accurately (seen below).

Moreover, the prototype worth thousands of dollars was purportedly given to Linus on loan with the expectation of it being returned. However, Linus supposedly did not return the prototype to Billet Labs. Instead, he auctioned it off to the highest bidder, which could have been a direct competitor to Billet Labs.

Developments

Linus Tech Tips Responds To Gamers Nexus

Later on August 14th, 2023, Linus responded to a thread discussing the video on his own forum (shown below).^[3] In the response, Linus expressed "disappointment" that Steve Burke did not reach out to him for comment. He then went on to say that he and other LMG employees are aware that they are "not perfect" and that he was saddened by how "quickly the pitchforks were raised over this." He also stood by his review of Billet Labs, saying:

Our intention wasn't to hurt anyone. We wanted no one to buy it (because it's an egregious waste of money no matter what temps it runs at) and we wanted Billet to make something marketable (so they can, y'know, eat).

LinusTech Administrator ADMIN Mr. Tech Tips 4.4k 131 Posted just now There won't be a big WAN Show segment about this or anything. Most of what I have to say, I've already said, and I've done so privately. To Steve, I expressed my disappointment that he didn't go through proper journalistic practices in creating this piece. He has my email and number (along with numerous other members of our team) and could have asked me for context that may have proven to be valuable (like the fact that we didn't 'sell' the monoblock, but rather auctioned it for charity due to a miscommunication... AND the fact that while we haven't sent payment yet, we have already agreed to compensate Billet Labs for the cost of their prototype). There are other issues, but I've told him that I won't be drawn into a public sniping match over this and that I'll be continuing to move forward in good faith as part of 'Team Media'. When/if he's ready to do so again I'll be ready. To my team (and my CEO's team, but realistically I was at the helm for all of these errors, so I need to own it), I stressed the importance of diligence in our work because there are so many eyes on us. We are going through some growing pains - we've been very public about them in the interest of transparency - and it's clear we have some work to do on internal processes and communication. We have already been doing a lot of work internally to clean up our processes, but these things take time. Rome wasn't built in a day, but that's no excuse for sloppiness. Now, for my community, all I can say is the same things I always say. We know that we're not perfect. We wear our imperfection on our sleeves in the interest of ensuring that we stay accountable to you. But it's sad and unfortunate when this transparency gets warped into a bad thing. The Labs team is hard at work hard creating processes and tools to generate data that will benefit all consumers - a work in progress that is very much not done and that we've communicated needs to be treated as such. Do we have notes under some videos? Yes. Is it because we are striving for transparency/improvement? Yeah... What we're doing hasn't been in many years, if ever.. and we would make a much larger correction if the circumstances merited it. Listing the wrong amount of cache on a table for a CPU review is sloppy, but given that our conclusions are drawn based on our testing, not the spec sheet, it doesn't materially change the recommendation. That doesn't mean these things don't matter. We've set KPIs for our writing/labs team around accuracy, and we are continually installing new checks and balances to ensure that things continue to get better. If you haven't seen the improvement, frankly I wonder if you're really looking for it... The thoroughness that we managed on our last handful of GPU videos is getting really incredible given the limited time we have for these embargoes. I'm REALLY excited about what the future will hold. With all of that said, I still disagree that the Billet Labs video (not the situation with the return, which I've already addressed above) is an 'accuracy' issue. It's more like I just read the room wrong. We COULD have re-tested it with perfect accuracy, but to do so PROPERLY - accounting for which cases it could be installed in (none) and which radiators it would be plumbed with (again... mystery) would have been impossible... and also didn't affect the conclusion of the video... OR SO I THOUGHT... I wanted to evaluate it as a product, and as a product, IF it could manage to compete with the temperatures of the highest end blocks on the planet, it still wouldn't make sense to buy... so from my point of view, re-testing it and finding out that yes, it did in fact run cooler made no difference to the conclusion, so it didn't really make a difference. Adam and I were talking about this today. He advocated for re-testing it regardless of how non-viable it was as a product at the time and I think he expressed really well today why it mattered. It was like making a video about a supercar. It doesn't mater if no one watching will buy it. They just wanna see it rip. I missed that, but it wasn't because I didn't care about the consumer.. it was because I was so focused on how this product impacted a potential buyer. Either way, clearly my bad, but my intention was never to harm Billet Labs. I specifically called out their incredible machining skills because I wanted to see them create something with a viable market for it and was hoping others would appreciate the fineness of the craftsmanship even if the product was impractical. I still hope they move forward building something else because they obviously have talent and I've watched countless niche water cooling vendors come and go. It's an astonishingly unforgiving market. Either way, I'm sorry I got the community's priorities mixed-up on this one, and that we didn't show the Billet in the best light. Our intention wasn't to hurt anyone. We wanted no one to buy it (because it's an egregious waste of money no matter what temps it runs at) and we wanted Billet to make something marketable (so they can, y'know, eat). With all of this in mind, it saddens me how quickly the pitchforks were raised over this. It also comes across a touch hypocritical when some basic due diligence could have helped clarify much of it. I have a LONG history of meeting issues head on and I've never been afraid to answer questions, which lands me in hot water regularly, but helps keep me in tune with my peers and with the community. The only reason I can think of not to ask me is because my honest response might be inconvenient. We can test that... with this post. Will the "It was a mistake (a bad one, but a mistake) and they're taking care of it" reality manage to have the same reach? Let's see if anyone actually wants to know what happened. I hope so, but it's been disheartening seeing how many people were willing to jump on us here. Believe it or not, I'm a real person and so is the rest of my team. We are trying our best, and if what we were doing was easy, everyone would do it. Today sucks. Thanks for reading this.

Linus also reportedly compensated Billet for auctioning off its one-of-a-kind prototype after giving the company an unfair review, saying that "Billet sent us a quote. I don't know or care how they arrived at the value."^[9]

Gamers Nexus Responds To Linus's Forum Post

On August 15th, 2023, Gamers Nexus's Stephen Burke posted a video^[10] that contained a response to Linus's aforementioned forum post. The video gathered over 40,000 views within an hour of it being uploaded (seen below). Burke called Linus's response "disappointing" and noted that he seemed unapologetic for the mistakes pointed out in Gamers Nexus's video.

Moreover, Burke noted the timeline of events that transpired after his initial video. Having reached out to Billet Labs himself, Burke uncovered that Linus only reimbursed the company for the stolen prototype after his video was posted. Linus had purportedly left an email from Billet Labs in which they asked for compensation unanswered until he saw the blowback from Gamers Nexus's video.

Billet Labs's Response To The Controversy

On August 15th, 2023, Billet Labs made a post^[11] to the /r/LinusTechTips subreddit expressing its gratitude for the support of the PC community. The company also provided an outline of how events unfolded, from its prototype being sold to Burke's video to them finally being compensated for the loss of their product. The post gathered over 5,000 upvotes in two hours (seen below).

5454 11 Discussion Our public statement regarding LTT self.Linus Tech Tips Submitted 2 hours ago by Billet_Labs [+1] 33 & 20 more You, the PC community, are amazing. We'd like to thank you for your support, it means more than you can imagine. Steve at Gamers Nexus has publicly shown his integrity, at the huge risk of backlash, and we have nothing but respect for him for how he's handled himself, both publicly and when speaking directly to us. Regarding LTT, we are simply going to state the relevant facts: On 10th August, we were told by LTT via email that the block had been sold at auction. There was no apology. We replied on 10th August within 30 minutes, telling LTT that this wasn't okay, and that this was a £XXXX prototype, and we asked if they planned to reimburse us at all. We received no reply and no offer of payment until 2 hours after the Gamers Nexus video went live on 14th August, at which point Linus himself emailed us directly. The exact monetary value of the prototype was offered as reimbursement. We have not received, nor have we asked for any other form of compensation. About the future of Billet Labs: We don't plan to mourn our missing block, we're already hard at work making another one to use for PC case development, as well as other media and marketing opportunities. Yes it sucks that the prototype has gone, it's slowed us but has absolutely not stopped us. We have pre-orders for it, and plan to push ahead with our first production run as soon as we can. We also have some exciting new products on our website that are available to buy now - we thank everyone who has bought them so far, and we can't wait to see what you do with them. We're happy to answer any questions, but we won't be commenting on LTT or the specifics of the email exchanges - we're going to concentrate on making cool stuff, and innovative products (the Monoblock being just one of these). We hope LTT implements the necessary changes to stop a situation like this happening again. Peace out Felix and Dean Billet Labs 900 comments (54 new) source share save hide give award report crosspost hide all child comments

Linus Media Group Collective Response

On August 16th, 2023, various members of Linus Media Group participated in a YouTube^[12] video response discussing the events since Gamers Nexus's video, and laying out a plan to address all the issues presented by Burke. The video also contained an appearance by Linus. The upload gathered over 700,000 views in four hours (seen below).

Several members of the Linus Tech Tips subreddit noted that the apology video was monetized^[13] and that they failed to blue out a phone number that Billet Labs had requested to stay private.^[14]

Ex-LTT Employee Madison Posts About Her Experience

On August 16th, 2023, ex-LTT employee Madison Suop posted a thread on X^[15] explaining her reasons for leaving Linus Tech Tips and the kind of workplace misconduct she purportedly experienced during her time there (seen below).

To stop the speculation and DM's I am receiving.
I chose to quit my role at LTT because it, and the working environment I was facing, were ruining my mental health.

The number of daily items the Social media role at the time was expected to fill was incredibly high.

— Madison | Suop (@suuuoppp) August 16, 2023

The thread concludes with Madison sharing that LTT's toxic "grindset" work culture allegedly led to her cutting her leg to the point of having to go to the ER, as it was the only way she could imagine she would be allowed to take time off without losing her job.

Online Reactions

As the controversy surrounding LTT spread in mid-August 2023, numerous memes, reactions and discussions began appearing online. For example, on August 14th, 2023, Redditor /u/Cry_Wolf posted Gamers Nexus's video to /r/LinusTechTips,^[4] gathering over 19,000 upvotes in a day.

Also on August 14th, Redditor^[5] /u/Struders posted an I'm the Captain Now meme in which Steve Burke was made to say "Look at me, I am the tech tips man now," gathering over 5,000 upvotes in a day (seen below, left). On August 15th, X^[6] user @Ramification_ posted a meme about Linus Tech Tips, gathering over 300 likes in a day (seen below, right).

On August 15th, Redditor^[7] /u/lebithecat posted a parody apology letter on behalf of Linus, gathering over 500 upvotes in a day (seen below, left). Also on August 15th, Redditor^[8] /u/TheTruth1410 posted a meme about Linus auctioning off Billet Lab's one-of-a-kind prototype against its will, gathering over 500 upvotes in a day (seen below, right).

'unbiased reviews' Tinus Media Group the mark of trust me bro quality Dear Valued Subsribers, F--- you mean we should change? You think my ego can handle that? You will forget all about this in a week or two and continue gobble my flawed, half- cooked videos because you love me so much (I am entertaining, am I right?) You think I care about Gamers Nexus' criticisms? I will address all of that via forum post and not think about it for a second. My fanbase will dickride and protect me, you bozos. I'm valued at 100 mil baby, a start-up won't match me if I throw them some bone over their auctioned engineering sample. They are lucky that I have given them some limelight. I will never change and if you think you can touch me, think again. I have my sponsors to shield me financially. Conflict of interest my ass. Anyway, here is a segue - to our sponsor! Unenthusiastically yours, Sad boi CEO #ᎧᎧ "THE LEADERS IN DISAPPOINTMENT"

Search Interest

External References

^[1] YouTube – Gamers Nexus

^[2] YouTube – Linus Tech Tips

^[3] LinusTechTips – Linus Responds

^[4] Reddit – /r/LinusTechTips

^[5] Reddit – /r/LinusTechTips

^[6] X – Ramification_

^[7] Reddit – /r/LinusTechTips

^[8] Reddit – /r/LinusTechTips

^[9] LinusTechTips – Linus Responds

^[10] YouTube – Gamers Nexus

^[11] Reddit – /r/LinusTechTips

^[12] YouTube – Linus Tech Tips

^[13] Reddit – /r/LinusTechTips

^[14] Reddit – /r/LinusTechTips

^[15] X – suuuoppp

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Top Comments

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Aug 15, 2023 at 02:02PM EDT

I think at the scale of around $10-100 million the Iron Law of Bureaucracy becomes impossible to resist and organisations compromise their founding values in favour of growth at any cost, and that is what Linus Media Group is going through at the moment. Individually, the people involved will rationalise it as putting their friends and family first.

Basically, we're seeing the transition from small business to faceless megacorp in real time.

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