There are times when the video game industry can really hurt the consumers due to prices, whether it be trying to get a new console, getting all the latest games when they release one on top of the other or trying to build something to play games. PC gaming has led to many things, but arguably one of the worst is the “parts market” that can be easily abused. After all, if you want the best PC gaming setup, you need the best parts. So for something like the RTX 4080, you’d expect a high price because the team behind it knows that people will want to buy it. Or at least, that’s the intention.
When the RTX 4080 was released, it had a $1200 price tag. That immediately made it “incredibly pricey” to the average gamer, and the consumer let them know that. Typically, when a part like this comes out, people buy it up, and then a group of scalpers gets as many as they can so that they can go to places like eBay and scalp it for a higher price. As we said before, the system is easy to abuse.
But here’s where the twist comes in because that didn’t happen here. When the 4080 was released, few people purchased it—just the opposite. The part sold so poorly that you can easily find one in most retailers. Rarely does a part from RTX do this poorly, yet here we are.
A funny side effect of this is with the scalpers. True to the cycle, they went and bought up some of these parts and put them on eBay and beyond to make money, but no one took them at their offer. As a result, the scalpers tried to get refunds to get their money back. However, some places, like New Egg, wouldn’t allow that:
So this is a big win for the consumer in some ways because the scalpers didn’t reap the rewards of their exploits like they had in the past. Nvidia won’t be happy with what’s happening to their part, but this might be a lesson in what happens when you charge too much for a part that only some people will want if they really need the “best PC around.”
Considering you can get excellent gaming PCs for under $1200, you should consider getting a pre-built device instead of trying to piece it together. It’ll save you money, time, and stress.
Source: Twitter
