first off, before I rant on about the 10% hike in the price on a 1080ti, it may of come to the attention already of the simple lack of these cards for sale. Last week you could pick up a 1080ti for a little under £700. Least it seems you could.
I went and bought one, or rather, pre order one, only to find out today that the expected arrival time for it was the END OF MARCH! I fished about for another one, only to see prices had hit the roof. It feels like the equivalent of OPEC are running the nvidia market. Only difference being OPEC do at least allow the odd few million barrels of oil into the market - nvidia has given up making 1080ti's!
What's bloody happening? Everyone's gone mad.
Why should they care about your GTX1080TI which "only" costs £700 - there are gamers paying over £900 and thinking its perfectly fine.
So,why should they prioritise £700 GTX1080TI cards,when they can have people paying £200+ more for the same cards and patting each other on the back for doing so.
If I was a business I would price the cards as high as I could,due to people willing to pay those prices,just like with microtransactions. Why listen to people moaning about them,when the whales will spend £100s on the game buying stuff?? I heard that EA has put pack microtransactions into Star Wars Battlefront 2. I don't blame them as they know for everyone moaning about it many will gladly not care.
You only have to look at the revenue for companies like EA,"games as a service" revenue,ie,things like microtransactions are huge.
Prices have been slowly going upwards over time before mining for graphics cards,and its gamers who justify the pricing. Its why under £300 performance has stagnated for so many years now.