PC Gaming

I should have clarified better. To date, there are no instances I know of where GPU manufacturers are bricking people's GPUs. When I said manufacturers, I meant it more broadly in terms of gadget/tech manufacturing.

Sony removed other OS function after units were sold, which bricked online function for those that wanted to keep it, since the only way to keep that function was to not update the console or take it online. There have been instances of manufacturers bricking devices, in this case robot vacuums, when the user discovered it was reporting location data about his house to the home company. The user stopped that data collection, and the company remote bricked the device. Spotify bricked a piece of hardware, car thing, after people had already paid for it, with a limited 1 month refund window from when it was discontinued. Belkin is bricking some of it's smart home products on January 31, 2026. In 2019, Sonos launched a trade-up scheme that offered existing owners 30% off the cost of a new speaker. But owners had to activate "Recycle Mode" on their existing Sonos speaker, making it permanently unusable - even if there was nothing wrong with it.

My brain went, kill = brick, then thought about all of the shit I've seen where tech manufacturers fucked over their customers in the past, and just assumed the worst from the start before reading the article.