That article is from March 2014.  

 

People also say wood is getting more expensive because we don't have it, but we have a shit ton of it just sitting around. So I wouldn't exactly say any of these price raises are because materials are actually more scarce or hard to get. It's all BS.

 

Yes, about the PS4. People's memories are short. "There is a PS5 shortage". No shit. There was a PS4 shortage too. Nothing new.

 

Wood is more of a result of the stock market, but supply did decrease as sawmills were forced to shut down.

 

But again, that does not negate the specific facts that are contributing to current shortages.

 

Something I was bouncing around in my head today...
What if factory time became more expensive? With the shutdowns I could see various companies paying more to get to the front of the line production wise and maybe just the factory time itself became more expensive?

 

100% a factor as well.

 

There was also a gas “shortage” because 1 place in Florida ran out and the entire country magically had one for a week. Weirdly disappeared after people realized “wait, the gas is still here”.

People are too easy to take advantage of with price increases. They believe any excuse and run with it.


Btw you guys didn't factor in the fact other companies in the TF market aren't more expensive by a massive 100% increase. It's still A FT only thing atm

 

Wood is expensive because we shut down most of our wood processing plants during the pandemic (lots of that is on the west coast... so probably some of it is STILL locked down lmao). For a while, we were sending raw lumber to China for processing then shipping it back. That obviously adds quite a cost to it. Processing is reopening and prices are starting to come down already. Demand will probably stay high for a while; people are still building more lol. I doubt that prices will go back to exactly how they were, but I think that some sort of "normal" will return.

People who say we "don't have it" probably don't have a great picture of what's going on.

 

No, people panic bought gas because they thought there would be a shortage due to the hack of the processing plant, or whatever it was.

Sawmills shut down, decreasing supply. That's a fact. This resulted in traders assuming there would be a supply shortage, and it drove the price up.

Again, you can't just take one situation and negate the facts of another situation just because you think they feel similar.

 

I do remember the PS2 shortage of the 2000's, those were difficult times indeed.

 

That does not explain why some toys are still "cheap". G-Creations just reissued their Sixshot and although prices are higher over here in the States, I was actually able to get mine cheaper than what it had been 3 years ago from Baba. See also Mastermind Creation figures, etc.

The thing is people are trying to find the ONE reason that will explain what we've been seeing price wise, but there's not just one explanation. Here are a couple (not in order of importance):
1. The pandemic did play a toll on production of various goods. This is a supply issue i.e. the demand for meat is still X (like people are not eating more meat because of the pandemic), but because of supply chain issues, workers staying home, etc, companies can only supply 2/3X.
2. Central Banks printed a TON of money, and we are now seeing the results. 4 trillion dollars is like 20% of the US GDP.
3. Because of the pandemic, the demand for certain goods exceeded what it would have been during normal times i.e. unlike(1) this is a demand issue. Say during normal times, the demand for FT was X, but because the demand is now 2X, and FT can't ramp up production quickly, we are now seeing far higher prices for FT products. It's not just FT, the demand for consoles, home improvement products, and even toilet paper etc went up like crazy.
4. Some companies are almost certainly overcharging now because they can.
5. Others.

 

Well yeah, first world problem, but my point still stands true.

 

i tried hard to get a ps5 and failed everytime.... all the others i bought easy and without pre ordering

 

And just like the PS4 (see article), you'll probably have to wait a bit. Heck, might as well wait for the PS5Pro  

 

I doubt it was due to the same factors in 2014.

Just like saying there is always a shortage of new iPhones every time a new model comes out. Far from breaking news.

 

Not really. Console architecture has changed, but in the end just like every computer, you need processors, memory and storage. It takes time for chip makers to ramp up production for new kinds of chips etc.

 

There's a pile up of new Ford trucks parked somewhere in middle America waiting for new chip sets... the lot is so big it can be seen from outer space.

This is all due to supply/production issues related to the pandemic directly or indirectly. Not regular scheduled programming.

 

Without workers to process the raw materials, they might as well not exist.

 

Yeah but those are different chips. The chips that go to Playstations are different from the ones that go to cars. Are there chip shortages for cars? Absolutely. But those chips are not made in the same factories. It takes really high end manufacturers to produce chips for consoles and graphic cards. In fact when it comes to high end chips, there's really only one name in the industry, TSMC, same as last time.

There's a reason why it's the 10th biggest company in the world market value wise. Also, if TSMC were to be taken over by the Chinese, the American economy will collapse, and no I am not exaggerating.