"MSI afterburner project is probably dead" - Claims Lead Developer
The development of MSI Afterburner may soon end
Published: 9th January 2023 | Source: Guru3D forums |
MSI has reportedly abandoned the development of their popular Afterburner software
Update - MSI has released the following statement regarding their support for MSI Afterburner. As mentioned below, sanctions against Russian have prevented MSI from transferring payments to the developer's bank account. MSI are searching for ways to solve this issue, but international sanctions have left the company with few options.
Our product marketing & accounting team are dealing with this problem now. Due to the war, our payment couldn't transfer to the author's bank account successfully. We are still keeping in touch with him and figuring out how to solve this
Alexey Nicolaychuk, the developer known as "Unwinder" has confirmed that the development of MSI Afterburner may be coming to an end, with MSI having "semi-abandoned" the project as a consequence of Russia's war against Ukraine.
MSI Afterburner is a popular GPU overclocking software that is commonly used by PC gamers to overclock their graphics cards, monitor system thermals, create custom fan profiles, monitor game performance, take screenshots, and PC benchmarking. No other branded overclocking tool is as feature rich as MSI Afterburner. Should MSI Afterburner's development end, there is no competing overclocking tool that offers gamers the same feature set.
When asked why the development of MSI Afterburner is in jeopardy, the Russian developer stated that MSI had "stopped performing their obligations under (the) Afterburner license agreement" almost a year ago. MSI are unable to fulfil their obligations due to Russia's war against Ukraine and the resulting sanctions against Russia. Unwinder has continued to develop MSI Afterburner without MSI's support for the past eleven months, but without payment this support cannot continue indefinitely.
As it stands, MSI cannot support Afterburner's continued development due to sanctions against Russia. There is nothing that MSI can do about this. As such, MSI cannot be seen as a villain for not supporting Afterburner's development. If there is a villain here, it is Vladimir Putin. Had his invasion of Ukraine not occurred, MSI Afterburner's development would have continued without any issues.
Below is what Unwinder had to say about MSI Afterburner's continued development.
War and politics are the reasons. I didn’t mention it in MSI Afterburner development news thread, but the project is semi abandoned by company during quite a long time already. Actually we’re approaching one year mark since the day when MSI stopped performing their obligations under Afterburner license agreement due to “politic situation”. I tried to continue performing my obligations and worked on the project on my own during the last 11 months, but it resulted in nothing but disappointment; I have a feeling that I’m just beating a dead horse and waste energy on something that is no longer needed by company. Anyway I’ll try to continue supporting it myself while I have some free time, but will probably need to drop it and switch to something else, allowing me to pay my bills.
RivaTuner Statistic Server's development will continue
The good news for PC gamers is that Unwinder's other project, RivaTuner Statistic Server (RTSS), is not having its development discontinued. RTSS is a separate project from MSI Afterburner, and it will continue to be supported even if MSI Afterburner's development ends.
Everything I said above is related to Afterburner project, but I said nothing about discontinuing RTSS development. It is separate and fully hobbyist application created many years before MSI Afterburner was even born. RTSS still gives me a lot of fun to develop it and design new functionality for it, the company is not related to development of recently added RTSS plugins like HotkeyHandler/OverlayEditor, which are also fully hobby inspired. So with or without MSI, RTSS will be alive and get future updates and support.
Talking about Afterburner part, I see no sense to try to make it profitable if company decided to freeze the licensing. So if it is dead - let it be so.
If the war in Ukraine continues, the development of MSI Afterburner will end. As it stands, the project's development has already stagnated, and its only a matter of time before Unwinder is forced to move onto other projects.
You can join the discussion on MSI Afterburner's development on the OC3D Forums.
Most Recent Comments
i am not sure how the legal situation is.
but maybe gamers would spend a few bucks so the development can go on? a gofundme campain or something like that. when i see what people spend on stupid youtube superchats i am sure some have a few dollars for a useful application. |
He went on to say that Riva tuner will still be very actively worked on. IE, the back end. Meaning that a new front end could indeed replace the MSI branded one.
AB is just literally a GUI for Riva Tuner.Quote
If you read what he said he says that AB is dead. Note - AB. Because AB is MSI AB. And it's MSI who have pulled out.
He went on to say that Riva tuner will still be very actively worked on. IE, the back end. Meaning that a new front end could indeed replace the MSI branded one. |
It just demotivates to do anything and MSI afterburner project is probably dead. |
in that thread many others asked if donations would help.
as it looks it is not that MSI wants to kill development, but can“t pay him under the current sanctions.
and as he needs money to pay the bills, he needs to look for other income sources.
I tried to continue performing my obligations and worked on the project on my own during the last 11 months..... Anyway I’ll try to continue supporting it myself while I have some free time, but will probably need to drop it and switch to something else, allowing me to pay my bills. |
once the war has ended (hopefully) and sanctions are lifted, MSI had still a working AB and he made money with donations during these times.
it makes me wonder that shutterstock still works in russia.
i still have sales in moscow, st. petersburg etc.Quote
but maybe gamers would spend a few bucks so the development can go on?
a gofundme campain or something like that.
when i see what people spend on stupid youtube superchats i am sure some have a few dollars for a useful application.Quote