One of the biggest issues in technology and production for the last few years has been the much-talked-about semiconductor chip shortage. These supply issues have caused many players to have to choose between delay buying a new generation console or GPU or paying extraordinary prices for the limited supply. After years of annoying shortages, relief may be on the horizon as new signs from tech industry sources claim that a drop in demand and prices may finally see better availability of new consoles and graphics cards.
Information gathered by Reuters suggests that changes in the stock status of the biggest suppliers of semiconductors, Intel, Qualcomm, and others will lead to increased availability. Reuters also theorizes that the market's supply may quickly swing into surplus status. Chip production companies are completing production expansion projects, which were a response to the sudden demand triggered by the pandemic. Nvidia, AMD, and others have produced a larger variety of GPU models in hopes of compartmentalizing GPUs that can be used in cryptocurrency mining from hardware intended for gaming products.
Thanks to a vague interpretation of the hierarchy on what tech products get priority on chips fresh off the production line, gaming consoles were left lower on the pyramid behind cars, appliances, and other smart home devices. These issues left fans using alert bots and discord servers to track down supply or simply paying a premium for a graphics card or console. The semiconductor shortage has also caused alterations to both Microsoft and Sony's new console releases as games are still being developed to play on last-gen systems as well.
Recently, there has been a noticeable increase in the frequency of retailers such as GameStop, Target, Walmart, and Best Buy having consoles in stock both online and in-store without the restriction of being subscribed to store membership services. The Xbox Series S has also been noted to be near readily available in some stores. Reuters also claims that Nvidia GPUs are also having a slight decrease in markup price and a similar increase in supply.
With the cycle of new games now entering a new phase, the possibility of having a supply of new consoles for gamers that have waited out the supply issues is welcome news. Games like Starfield, God of War: Ragnarok, and Final Fantasy 16, are projected to be the next big event releases. Though those games will be released cross-gen, fans that may have been waiting for a specific game may cash in their gaming setup upgrade to mark the occasion of a new game performing on the best hardware available.
Source: Reuters