You'd think, but some of these cards actually went up in price over time. In many cases you have to wait a whole generation, and even then with the insane scarcity it doesn't help that much. Especially since Nvidia started loudly announcing they'd stop production on 40 series cards way ahead of their 50 series paper launch.

Looking at European retailers, a 4090 still runs for the same insane 2500€ tag it launched with, and when it was the top of the line it could routinely be found listed for well over 3K.

Honestly, it's to the point where the way pricing is handled needs regulatory intervention. In the time the 50 series has been live I've seen cards repriced hundreds of euros higher, then presented as launch day prices on "sale". It's FOMO central, nobody has stock, no prices are real, there's zero real competition and it really feels like regulators have gotten involved for way less egregious stuff in the past.