- Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan warns about incoming price hikes of gaming laptops in 2022
- The measure is due to chip shortage and increased demand for the wares from multiple industries
- Taiwan’s production capacity was further hindered by an unprecedented drought
Chip shortage, drought, and a boom in demand are going to result in more expensive gaming laptops next year, says Razer chief executive.
Brace Yourself for Gaming Laptop Price Hike
We have all felt the lack of quality hardware over the last months. The prolonged waiting times on items that would have otherwise taken only a week at the most to arrive have been growing in the gaming community. PC gamers’ angst is nothing compared to the feeling of desperation PlayStation 5 fans must be feeling given the dearth of consoles because of predatory bots and “secret” Walmart sales and hoards that don’t give everyone a fair shot.
Us PC gamers suffer, too. Razer, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of gaming hardware, including powerful gaming rigs, said that the gaming community should brace itself for an increase in the price of gaming laptops. Commenting on Twitter, Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan warned that prices are set to increase exponentially in the company’s new product lines. Consumers will feel these price hikes, Razer chief executive stated in a matter-of-fact tweet.
A Chip on Gamers’ Shoulder and Rising Prices
Razer may have significant clout on the gaming market, but they can hardly ever be called monopolists. The developer has consistently delivered great builds of peripherals and core gaming systems.
While laptops such as Blade Stealth 137 and Blade 15 Advanced are already quite costly, to speak nothing of the S-tier machines that feature the RTX 30 GPUs, the chip shortage that has rocked the smartphone market is making its way into gaming, although as one publication put it: it’s not game over.
Lack of available GPUs is compounding the matter, as demand for such wares is not likely to subside. It’s a vicious circle where the world needs more entertainment but must pay a higher penny to obtain it.
Gaming hardware manufacturers knew that the COVID-19 crisis would boost demand, but they relied on a presumed gradual loss of appetite for chips among other industries. For example, automakers thought that people would not be buying vehicles with the economical morose settling in many strata of society, but people were prompted out of public transport and into cars for a fear of contracting the virus.
Taiwan’s Chips Producers Go Dry
This meant that gaming devices manufacturers, Razer included, suddenly faced a significant shortage, pushing prices up, as they had to pay more against tough competitors who were out to get all chips they could. This trend continues to date but holds on.
If super-consumption and a global pandemic weren’t enough, Taiwan, the chief exporter of chips in the world, was faced with unprecedented drought, making it difficult to cool down the machines and conduct normal day-to-day operations to satisfy the spike in demand.
The country’s Irrigation Agency, secular-minded as it is, was so desperate at one point that it chose to hold a spiritual ceremony directed at whatever deity of rain was within an earshot.
Razer cannot be the only company that is considering hiking prices, though. Competitors are likely to follow suit as the truth of the matter is that all manufacturers get their chips from the same place.
