We’re finally getting past the worst Covid-19 and 2020 had to offer, a little worse for wear, but we got through it nonetheless. Layoffs, small businesses closing, and losing a feeling of safety were all tragic side effects of Covid-19. There is one that is perhaps the worst and most overlooked though: human connection. It’s one of the most important aspects of life and we struggle to thrive or even survive when we lose it. We lost an essential part of living and we did everything we could to try and bridge that newly missing piece of our lives. Among the options like Zoom and Facetime was something surprisingly great for social interaction: video games, and more specifically, virtual reality.

Any gamer would tell you that online video games are an incredible way to meet new people and forge surprisingly strong bonds with people you’ve never seen in person. I have met some incredible people just by hopping on my favorite games like Rainbow 6: Siege and Insurgency Sandstorm. Those people have become some great friends that I regularly talk with. I even start to miss them if it’s been a while. That’s not even mentioning how much gaming together can strengthen your relationships with people you already know. Video games are one of the absolute best ways you can bond with someone you already know. It’s how many kept in touch with their real-life friends. 

Virtual reality just brings another layer to that. It might surprise you that VR adds another layer of social interaction and reminds us how much our physical motion adds to our personality. You’re able to see so much more depth in a person when you see how they move their arms while they talk, or how they shake with laughter after doing something goofy. All of this is so clear in VR and it helps so much that virtual reality is so focused on being extremely social. VRChat is one of the most popular VR games available right now. It’s free and based entirely on social interaction with other people around the world. There isn’t any objective or goal to work towards. You’re just there to have fun, meet people, and chat about anything you want. You’re able to really connect with people(even if it’s mostly goofy or anime avatars) halfway across the world. 

VR helped a lot of people through tough times, just by some fun moments and interesting people. The joy you can get out of VR solely out of just seeing and interacting with other people proves how crucial virtual reality (and video games) were to helping us weather the storm. It showed so many that you can find beauty anywhere, even during a pandemic. 

The PlayStation 5 (and Xbox Series X|S) has been extremely difficult to get a hold of with units being sold out almost instantly since release. This has been due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on manufacturing. Sony can’t keep the new console in stock with most purchases happening only minutes after restocks for both the digital and standard versions. Scalpers have only worsened the problem with automated software to purchase the consoles instantly for resale at insanely inflated prices. Potential buyers have been on the lookout for restocks and more casual fans are just wondering when PS5s are going to be readily available for the public.

There’s some good news and some bad news. By most estimates, it’s looking like we won’t be seeing PS5s consistently in stock until next year, 2022. This is mostly due to one major part of almost all modern tech like phones, gaming systems, and GPUs: processing chips. According to the chairman of Foxconn, an electronics manufacturer, we probably won’t see this shortage end until the middle of 2022 as the world starts to recover from the Coronavirus pandemic. This has led to some heavy criticism of Sony for releasing the PS5s with too few units to go around, but they weren’t the only ones. Xbox is facing similar issues with its new console rollout. Graphics card prices have skyrocketed, even slightly older cards have spiked in cost. Sony, however, has a different outlook than Foxconn. 

The CEO of PlayStation, Jim Ryan, said that PS5s could end as early as late 2021 if everything goes right. Sony is working with their partners to try and get production back on track so players can get back into the game on next-gen consoles. Whether or not they can achieve this remains to be seen, but PlayStation and gamers alike are holding out hope, especially with another holiday season approaching later this year.

The launch of the PS5 was rocky, but it still became the fastest-selling console of all time. Now, Sony is trying to get their production back on track so everyone can get their hands on the PS5. The future of the new console is still relatively murky with PlayStation being more optimistic and Foxconn predicting a longer timeline than expected. We’ll get easily accessible PS5s at some point; it’s just a waiting game for now. 

The growing problem of the international semiconductor microchip shortage has rippled throughout multiple industries since the start of the pandemic. It has driven up prices, and caused high-demand consumer electronics like the PS5 and iPhone 12 to be in short supply. 

It may even affect the used car industry in the coming months; some car factories have begun to shut down as they are unable to obtain the essential component, halting new car production for multiple manufacturers. Some estimates have shown the auto industry losing $60 billion in sales during the first half of this year, spelling certainty for a price hike in used cars.

Many have blamed the pandemic for the shortage due to factory closures and reduced worker capacities worldwide; pandemic also caused a spike in demand for personal computers due to the sudden work-from-home status quo, along with the demand for other consumer electronics as millions sought ways to combat the boredom of isolation. However, the pandemic’s impact on microchip supply may only be half the story.

Seemingly endless innovations in consumer electronics have prompted an increase in demand for the latest gadgets, which contain more complicated chips than ever before. All of the latest flagship phones, most of which were released in late 2020, come standard with 5G capabilities and powerful onboard computer processors. The newest generation of gaming consoles such as the PS5 and Xbox Series X also require far more processing power than their predecessors, necessitating complex semiconductor microchips.

President Trump’s trade war with China during his term in office may have also contributed to the shortage. Some analysts suspect that the Chinese phone producer Huawei Technologies may have begun stockpiling chips when Trump banned the sale of its phones in May 2019. The mounting problem was also recently exacerbated by a grounded container ship that blocked the Suez Canal for nearly a week, cutting off a supply of chips headed from Asia to Europe.

Global consumers can expect to continue seeing shortages of consumer electronics that require semiconductor chips, as well as a drastic decline in the availability of new cars — and thus, higher used car prices. According to basic macroeconomics, this multi-industry supply-and-demand phenomenon caused by the chip shortage may cause the prices of all of these products to rise; if the shortage continues for an extended period of time, the high prices could end up affecting other industries as well.