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If you are a gamer of any persuasion, chances are you are reading this article with some degree of frustration. Here at the end of 2020 we’ve seen a number of product launches, from new RTX graphics cards from NVIDIA earlier in the fall, to launches of Microsoft’s Xbox Series X, Sony’s PlayStation 5 and more recently AMD RX 6000 series GPUs. All of them, to some extent, have been a disaster.
That’s a lot of new material coming onto the scene in a short period of time, so whatever the platform, the timing should be an exciting time for all types of players. Instead, it’s a disappointing time as this material sells out immediately no matter what it is or where it is sold. If you’ve tried to get your hands on a graphics card from NVIDIA or AMD, an Xbox Series X, or a PlayStation 5, there’s a good chance you’ve walked away from those efforts without showing anything but wasted time and a headache.
Of course, even if you aren’t looking to purchase any of these things, it’s hard to miss complaints about the stock status of any of them. The subnets dedicated to these machines or to the brands that sell them are teeming with disappointed players accusing each of these manufacturers of launching paper launches, expressing frustration that stocks seemingly sell as soon as they are listed, or simply disappointed to have money to spend but nothing to buy.
It’s hard to fault them for feeling as upset as they are. The COVID-19 pandemic has essentially ruined 2020 for many people around the world. It’s been a frustrating year for everyone for one reason or another, and now that we are getting close to turning the page until 2021, a lot of people finally had reason to get excited about something with these console launches and of GPU.
Being greeted by store listings that only seem to say “Out of Stock” and nothing else or – worse yet – just about to buy one of these products to see them out of stock before being able to complete the ordering process is a boring end to a year that seems too happy to receive a few instincts after she has already knocked us out.
Obviously, just as the pandemic is the reason everyone trying to buy a console or GPU lacks patience, it’s also likely the reason for these stockouts in the first place. Figuring out the logistics behind a highly anticipated product launch during a pandemic has to be an absolute nightmare, and we’ve had a number of product launches over the past few months.
Then you have the fact that most of those introductory sales were made online rather than in-store. With the PlayStation 5, that was because an online-only launch had been mandated by Sony, but it wouldn’t surprise me to learn that online purchases made up the vast majority of sales for the Xbox Series X series. RTX 3000 and the RX 6000 series too.
We’ve all had enough product launches to understand that when buying online is your best chance at getting a new product, you’re already working from behind. The bots and scalpers running them are in force for the online launch of any planned product, and when you combine them with the legions of regular consumers trying to get a console or GPU for themselves, you’ve got a stock. which sells as fast as it is listed.
It’s an irritating situation for almost everyone involved. Gamers routinely miss the opportunity to purchase a console or GPU, while the companies selling them face limited stock, possibly restricted manufacturing due to the pandemic, and potential buyers looked down upon as these two products produce. The only ones that come out on top are the scalpers, who are more than happy to sell a console or GPU at double or even triple its price to people who aren’t patient enough to wait for stock levels to normalize.
This is also part of the problem – despite encouraging vaccine news in recent weeks, this pandemic is still ongoing, and here in the United States at least, several regions are considering more lockdowns to try and slow the spread. virus. The CDC is even encouraging people to stay home during Thanksgiving, which is an unthinkable direction before 2020.
So the result is that we will have more people annoyed facing additional lockdowns and looking to pick a new GPU or a new console to pass the time. Manufacturing, especially in the case of the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5, still needs time to ramp up. It’s basically a perfect storm that guarantees that the stock of these GPUs and consoles will sell out immediately for the months to come. We anticipate that new consoles and GPUs will be depleted for some time immediately after launch, but this pandemic could extend those times much longer than usual.
It really feels like NVIDIA, AMD, Microsoft, and Sony should have delayed the launch of these new products, but obviously the time lag between designing and releasing new gaming hardware lasts for years, and these plans to launch are not. generally have contingencies in place for global pandemics. Yet with the pandemic fueling these inventory shortages, for a lot of people, it’s as if these products have never been launched at all.
Has 2020 dampened your next-gen gaming spirit, or are you instead sitting with whatever console or GPU you want as winter approaches? Let us know in the comments!
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