| Matsku said: The reason why there are shortages right now is unprecedented demand which has lead to chipmakers not being able to make enough chips so MS and Sony couldn't just magically buy more chips as they don't exist. |
If you pay more, you can procure more away from others. Just see how the vaccines are distributed around the world. All the rich countries have bought up supply and can already offer booster shots while most of Africa is still waiting for a first shot.
While immoral with a vaccine, for a gaming console it's fair game to bid more, basically MS and Sony becoming 'scalpers' when it comes to procuring more resources. (They already are in a sense of course, bulk contracts etc).
For me, the price might go up anyway depending on the fallout of Covid on the exchange rate. Game prices here already went up CAD 20 during the ps4 generation. Consoles also got more expensive over time. It could of course also go the other way, yet lowering prices due to a more favorable exchange rate takes a lot longer than a raise...
Anyway it's too late now, the negative PR will be high. Just got to remain patient. MS and Sony could have started at a higher price to take some wind out of the sails of scalpers and procure more chips. Then lowered the price this or next holiday season, like the generations of old. But the cutthroat competition demands the lowest possible price at release, selling at a loss, then only doing temporary discounts and no more permanent price reductions.
Nintendo sells at profit from the start and feels fully justified to keep the prices the same and charge $50 extra for a new screen. And it sells. Hence I think introducing a premium version this holiday season with 2tb storage for $100 more would work. But perhaps the costs of a bigger drive are more than that and it would still sell at a loss without being able to 'scalp' more chips. Probably since the 1tb expansion card for Series S/X is CAD 300 here (consoles are CAD 380 and CAD 600 here, in theory, if you can find em in the wild) So the premium 2tb versions would have to be $200 more. Fine for iPhone buyers that want more storage, but I doubt console buyers see the value in that...
