Well, now we know why AMD didn't release it. This is all AMD's fault, specifically, that idiot Sasa Marinkovic. His "creative" (read dishonest) nomenclature of the RX 7000-series cards is to blame for this.
The RX 7900 XTX should have been the RX 7800 (XT)
The RX 7900 XT should have been the RX 7700 (XT)
etc...
For anyone who doesn't understand why the cards should've been named the numbers I showed, I'll give a brief explanation of how the standard consumer-gaming video card tier system works. Most people here already know and understand it but for those who don't...
Levels below level 5 are essentially glorified video adapters for office and HTPC applications. They don't always follow typical naming conventions because their names are, for the most part, irrelevant. The top-level cards of this type would be the RX 6400 and GTX 1650.
Level 5 is the "entry-level" gaming tier which is generally personified by people who are new to PC gaming and tend to play e-Sports games like Rocket League, CS:GO, PUBG, Valorant, Overwatch, Fortnite and League of Legends at 1080p60Hz mid-settings, 1080p144Hz potato settings or some AAA-titles at 1080p potato settings. Level 5 cards are also sometimes used as glorified video adapters for HTPCs because of their relatively low power consumption. This is the only tier in which fewer than 8GB of VRAM can be found. Cards in this tier include the RX 6500 XT and GTX 3050.
Level-6 is the most popular tier by a country mile so it's referred to as "mainstream gaming". The most popular cards in the world are found in this tier like the legendary GTX 1060. Modern examples would be the RX 6600, RTX 3060, RX 7600 and RTX 4060 families. Without a doubt, these cards offer the lowest cost-per-frame than any other tier (even lower than level 5) making them the natural "go-to" for most gamers. They use the number 6 as their designations. This tier is popular for gamers playing AAA games at 1080p60Hz ultra settings or e-Sports titles at 1080p144Hz ultra settings. This is the highest tier in which 8GB of VRAM is still considered acceptable.
Then we have level-7, known as the "high-end gaming" tier . This tier is traditionally most popular among gamers who aim to play AAA titles at 1440p60Hz with ultra settings. In this day and age, the absolute minimum amount of VRAM for level-7 cards is considered to be 10-12GB depending on who you ask. Regardless, 8GB is not recommended at this level and above. Cards in this tier are identified by the number 7 like RTX 3070 and RX 6700.
Level-8 is the enthusiast tier with 8 as the identifying number like the RTX 3080 and RX 6800. This tier will have top-tier silicon that is from a lower bin or is slightly cut-down with (usually) large amounts of VRAM. This tier will have much better value than level-9 and is often the "go-to" for knowledgeable enthusiast gamers who want performance but know better than to pay level-9 prices for gaming performance increases that are of questionable utility. They generally aim for 2160p60Hz at medium settings or 1440p122Hz at ultra settings in AAA titles.
The halo tier of any generation is what I call "level-9" because 9 is used as the important number by both major players like the RX 6900 XT and RTX 3090 Ti. These cards will have top-tier silicon that is pushed to the max (within a reasonable power envelope) and are generally a terrible value for gaming with far more VRAM than gaming could possibly need in the next ten years. They are most often purchased by prosumers, people with more money than brains or people trying to compensate for something.
Level-9 cards aren't always easy to define because they have no theoretical upper limit when it comes to performance, amount of VRAM or price. Therefore, I define them like this:
"A level-9 halo card must be fast enough that their competitor's level-8 card is considered non-competitive based on performance or the fact that there is a level-8 card that is a far more natural competitor in both performance and price."
Since that definition could be considered subjective, as long as there is a level-8 card that competes directly in performance with the competition's level-8 card, the faster card can be called level-9.
AMD adhered to this very well with RDNA and RDNA2. RDNA had no card that was competitive with the RTX 2080 so the fastest card was called the RX 5700 XT and competed with the RTX 2070. The RX 6900 XT from RDNA2 isn't tremendously faster than the RTX 3080 but the fact that the RX 6800 XT is the obvious natural rival to the RTX 3080 in both performance and price which means that the RX 6900 XT name is still valid.
Neither the RTX 7900 XT nor the RTX 7900 XTX even come close to meeting these requirements. The RTX 7900 XTX is the natural performance rival of the RTX 4080, not the RTX 4090. Therefore, it is a level-8 card and should've been named the RX 7800 XT.
The RX 7900 XT is 10% faster than the RTX 4070 Ti but it is the natural rival in price and is far closer to the RTX 4070 Ti than it is to the RTX 4080 in both performance with the 4070 Ti being 9% slower and the 4080 being 16% faster. Therefore, it is a level-7 card and should've been named the RX 7700 XT.
This stupidity by AMD marketing has resulted in a cascading effect on the entire RX 7000 product stack although not as bad as the top-2 cards. The so-called "RX 7800 XT" is actually a base level-7 card similar to the RTX 4070. The "RX 7700 XT" will be a level-6 card similar to the RTX 4060 or 4060 Ti and the RX 7600 is actually a level-5 card that would compete with the RTX 4050 (if released). It has been long predicted that the RTX 4060 will be more than only slightly faster than the RX 7600 which would confirm this.
In the past, when AMD didn't (or couldn't) compete at the halo-level, they just didn't use level-9 naming because they knew that they'd be absolutely skewered by reviewers if they did.
This time around however, Sasa Marinkovic correctly recognised that the tech press was overly-obsessed with nVidia. He saw that they would be completely distracted by nVidia's attempt to pass off the RTX 4070 Ti as the "RTX 4080 12GB". This is because nVidia had pulled similar crap several times in the past while AMD did not. The tech press was blindsided by this move because it was completely unexpected.
However, that doesn't make him a genius, that makes him a stupid arsehole. He's an arsehole because he pulled this crap in the first place. He's galactic-level stupid because by the time the tech press realised what had happened (and of course it was only a matter of time), it was far too late for AMD to pull the 180° turn that nVidia did and "un-release" these cards.
This remarkably bad decision meant that in the long-term, AMD would have egg on its face (and rightfully so) without any way to remove it. This is AMD's own fault and it deserves every negative consequence that comes from this action.
The situation was far from hopeless. AMD was given an early Christmas gift from nVidia when the GeForce pricing was revealed. How AMD managed to foul this up is beyond my understanding (and I'm glad to be incapable of understanding this level of incompetence and stupidity) but I know that the responsibility for this falls squarely in the lap of their director of gaming marketing, Sasa Marinkovic.
It is patently clear that, through the decisions made by Mr. Marinkovic, AMD somehow managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. His employment should be terminated and going forward, no company should ever hire him for any kind of exective position. Not because he's unethical (most executives are unethical psychopaths anyway) but because he clearly can't properly analyze an industry landscape and act accordingly in the best interests of the corporation he works for. He also is incapable of keeping his mouth shut and not making an a$$ of himself in public (or on Twitter) and so he damages the very brand that he's supposed to be marketing.
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