You know what stinks about sales impacted by shortages? They don't get made up for in the future. Say people want a Switch now, but can't find one until June 2022. The device is now over half a year older, less new, less exciting. Maybe those people have lost their enthusiasm by then, or found another hobby they like more while they waited. Many will still have it, but a decent amount will have emotionally calmed down about the device. In truth, we will never know how well this gen could have sold because there are going to be millions, maybe even tens of millions of people that give up because they can't find a PS5/OLED Switch/Series XS/Steam Deck and spend their money on something else to amuse themselves.
We are already seeing this in other industries. I doubt movie theaters will ever bounce back to the numbers they once had annually. People drive a whole lot less now too, and fly a lot less. Hobbies change when you aren't able to do the thing you wanted in the first place.
