Epic Games CEO warns of three-year gaming hardware shortage

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has warned that the gaming industry is facing a severe hardware supply crisis, comparing the current situation to the historic video game crash of 1983. In an interview with Edge magazine, Sweeney stated that the massive wave of investment in artificial intelligence and data centers is creating unprecedented competition for essential components.

Sweeney noted that the economic scale of AI development allows tech giants to outbid the entertainment industry for critical parts. This competition has already caused the prices of RAM and storage to quadruple in some markets. He predicts that the supply shortage for gaming-relevant hardware could persist for the next three years as the industry waits for new manufacturing capacity to come online.

Market research firm TrendForce corroborated these supply pressures, noting that PC DRAM supply is shrinking as manufacturers prioritize server products. While TrendForce anticipates some relief in NAND flash supply by the second half of 2027, the immediate outlook remains challenging for studios facing rising production costs and component scarcity.