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You don't think that Valve was waiting until the supply chain was ready before making this announcement?



You think Sony Computer Entertainment didn't wait until the supply chain was ready before launching the PS5?

It's not about being ready or not, it's about supply and demand.

An example from Valve themselves from early this year regarding Index, an interview with Gabe:

“We actually have components that are manufactured in Wuhan and when you’re setting up your manufacturing lines it doesn’t occur to you that you’re suddenly going to be dependent on this peculiar transistor that’s sitting on one board that you can’t get,” Newell said.

“Everybody ended up running into the same problem simultaneously — you go from, ‘Oh, we’re in great shape,’ to, ‘What do you mean Apple or Microsoft just bought the next two years’ supply of this just so they could make sure they aren’t going to run out?’ You went from a situation where everything was getting done just in time to people buying up all the available supplies.”

Newell says these constraints are also why the headset still doesn’t ship to some markets like New Zealand or Australia. “The only thing keeping us from shipping in New Zealand at this point is just getting enough of them made — we’re very much manufacturing constrained.”

[1] https://uploadvr.com/gabe-newell-index-supply-shortage/




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