Well i agree with you generally on enshittification but here we’re talking specifically about GeForce Now so of course it’s about GPUs. And i’m sorry but nothing is going to work to frame the component shortage as a great injustice wrought upon the gamer community. It’s shit, i wish it wasn’t so and i’d love to buy me a new config too, but it’s also just a minor inconvenience in acessing a luxury for our hobby.
What worries me is mid-range gear getting into the “luxury” territory. They should either stop pretending and call it enthusiast hardware, sending a signal for game devs to correct their system requirements, or stop being so greedy and get the prices to where they should be. MSRP for mid-range GPUs has always been around $250, it still is, except it’s barely ever met in reality and still goes up ahead of inflation.
This is not some unavoidable and unpredictable shortage. Neither was anything before it. Manufacturers are very intentional in not ramping up production because that would hurt their pricing, prompting them to produce more for the same bottom line. Fluctuations in the market are used as golden selling opportunities, users be screwed, and high level of entry enables this behavior through low competition.
As long as this trend continues (and it probably will, because they do come up with new and inventive ways to do “pay up or get left behind” and then claim it’s not on them), I call it extortion.
Well i agree with you generally on enshittification but here we’re talking specifically about GeForce Now so of course it’s about GPUs. And i’m sorry but nothing is going to work to frame the component shortage as a great injustice wrought upon the gamer community. It’s shit, i wish it wasn’t so and i’d love to buy me a new config too, but it’s also just a minor inconvenience in acessing a luxury for our hobby.
I see.
What worries me is mid-range gear getting into the “luxury” territory. They should either stop pretending and call it enthusiast hardware, sending a signal for game devs to correct their system requirements, or stop being so greedy and get the prices to where they should be. MSRP for mid-range GPUs has always been around $250, it still is, except it’s barely ever met in reality and still goes up ahead of inflation.
This is not some unavoidable and unpredictable shortage. Neither was anything before it. Manufacturers are very intentional in not ramping up production because that would hurt their pricing, prompting them to produce more for the same bottom line. Fluctuations in the market are used as golden selling opportunities, users be screwed, and high level of entry enables this behavior through low competition.
As long as this trend continues (and it probably will, because they do come up with new and inventive ways to do “pay up or get left behind” and then claim it’s not on them), I call it extortion.