Why would Sony or Microsoft risk doing that? What if one raises the prices but the other one doesn't? It would look like one hell of an anti-consumer move, and it would throw thousands into the arms of the other company.

No. But I do appreciate this thread, made me realize that console shortages are not so bad. Theres worse options.

Holy smokes, you just said, hey, let's make this thing more expensive so poor people don't drive up demand. They are, after all, the only demographic that this would cause demand to fall in. There's going to be a big middle finger in this poll graph that you'll see, and just know that's it's coming from all the folks out there who love gaming and for whom it is absolutely a luxury and one they work very hard to afford. It's already bad enough that people can't get their hands on these devices because of bots and scalpers, but to take it another step further and intentionally raise it out of the financial capability for a group that already has it pretty bad just to make it better for a group that definitely has it less bad is a very,...bad take.

How much do you think console prices would need to go up before this is effective? I feel like even if prices went up by 100, they would still sell out instantly. 700? 800?

The demand is high enough that a $50 increase is pretty minor.

I think you'd have to start increasing the price by $150 or more to notice a significant drop in sales.

I don't think there's really anything to be done but patience.

Well, no. I don't care about availability right now, but when I do eventually want to get one I certainly don't want to have to pay more for it. I certainly don't enjoy the prospect of having to pay more for a system, just because current demand stupidly outweighs how I believe they should be valued.

That said, there's already enough people desparate enough to pay extra through re-sellers. So if the market wants to keep operating in this way, and consumers want to keep moaning about availability of these systems like it's akin to putting food on their table, then I wouldn't blame the companies for making this kind of move.

If you're going to complain about how expensive gaming is, yet your concern is over systems not even a year old that are already expensive-- and as stated, luxury items --meanwhile there's more than enough suitable alternatives, then forgive me but you're not a victim in my eyes. So I don't blame the OP or others for raising the question/topic.

Or just bundle them.

There is a world-wide chip shortage. It likely won't make much of a dent.

If it was so simple that Microsoft could pay a bit more for components and then produce more I'd support it, but that isn't the issue. Most of these factories and components can't be produced in greater quantities regardless of pricing, every component maker is ALREADY charging much more than normal and making as many new factories as they can for predicted future demand. Not all supply and demand is "elastic".

Marketplaces have shown people are willing to pay hundreds over MSRP for the consoles. Moving it up $50 won’t change the supplies.