MS and Sony don't need to raise prices. Scalpers already have in their place and I'm sure I could buy one right now with a click but don't really care to...

Chill out dude. A games console isn't a life-or-death thing. I can't afford a private jet and I imagine they're amazing but I'm not dying from lack of one.

Lots of problems with raising system prices now, but a long term problem would be price reduction. Even if SNY and MS upped their prices $100 for all models soon, trying to get them to reduce those prices eventually when they should, will be like pulling teeth. Just look at how high PS4 prices remained, even before covid. Unless sales were to unexpectedly tank, the prices will remain as high as they possibly can. Which is also why nobody should expect to see present gen console pricing reduced for a long, long, time.

The best way to stop scalpers is a change in the mindset of consumers towards one of delayed gratification. Simply put, consumers would need to decide for themselves that a PS5 or an XSX|S really isn't an urgent need, and certainly one that can wait until they are lucky enough to be able to get their hands on one at the MSRP, or until the chip shortage eases up and supply meets demand, which is going to take time. As long as a scalper can make an easy $100-300 profit on a console, they'll keep doing it.

Not really as high as I thought they were selling for but yeah, that's still a pretty big up-charge. I wonder why more people don't go the local, in-store route? It can be done pretty easily if you know what you're doing.

The problem with that is how much higher do the prices have to go in order for supply and demand to balance out evenly?

Are we talking just $50-100 bucks? Or something closer to double the original price? Something that would put the launch PS3 to shame?

And with Sony and Microsoft in particular (because Nintendo doesn't give a damn, they just beat to their own drum.) Is that if one company does it, you can bet your ass the other company will stay at their original price because now, they just became the most affordable next gen console on the market and all the casuals and average Joe and Jane gamers are going to flock to them. So it's now a question of do you sacrifice long term market share by pissing off consumers for short term profits by selling the consoles at higher than their original price? Profits that may not last as long as they hope once manufacturing DOES catch up with demand and everyone flocks to the more affordable system while the more expensive one collects dust in store shelves.

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.

There is a world wide shortage in most manufacturing industries and not just gaming.

I doubt throwing money at the problem would fix it (i.e. cause a jump in the queue) as manufacturers have contract obligations to meet with all their parties.

Only people who dont have a private jet say stuff like that. 

Completely pointless. I know for certain that I will be getting a PS5 at some point, but so far I haven't spent a single moment looking up whether I can find one or not. I'm perfectly fine with waiting until at least next year before getting one, potentially for a lower price anyway.

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...