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The woes of next-gen stocks continue
A lingering headache for video game buyers remains the shortage of next-gen PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X / S platforms. The much sought-after consoles from Sony and Microsoft continue to pop up in online retailers, for sell out in minutes, inevitably leaving customers disappointed and frustrated.
Adding fury to the mix, however, is the addition of “scalpers,” individuals or groups who buy multiple consoles en masse, before immediately offering them for resale, often at extremely inflated prices. While scalping has been rampant in retail for decades, modern technology has made the practice more difficult to combat than ever before, due to the creation of bot software that automatically executes the sales process.
Earlier this week, UK retailer GAME took stock of its latest batch of PS5 consoles, which – understandably – sold out in record time. Shortly afterwards, a scalping company took to Twitter to claim that it had successfully acquired more than 2,000 consoles through the sale, through the use of its bot software. Other Twitter users have also claimed to have packed multiple PS5 units, most with a flammable and antagonistic attitude that makes the claims harder to believe.
After a deluge of complaints against GAME for this result, the retailer reached out to VGC to assure its customers that GAME’s next-generation ordering process remains on lockdown.
“PlayStation 5s continue to be in high demand and this demand far exceeds current supply,” said a spokesperson for GAME. “We have rigorous measures in place to ensure that our ‘1 per customer’ statement is maintained to allow as many individual customers to purchase successfully as possible … All pre-orders are subject to automatic checks and Order updates – such as cancellations from these checks – occur after a customer receives a valid order confirmation email. At present, these orders are still pre-orders and therefore no payments have been made to customers yet. Payments will begin once our order has been verified. “
As long as there is demand for any item – from consoles and concert tickets, to limited-edition clothing and even toys – scalping will remain a frustrating part of the online sales process. Ultimately, anyone who wants to buy a PS5 or Xbox Series X / S will have the opportunity to do so, sooner or later. But the rush to retailers looks set to continue for now, little different from all major console launches of decades past.
Death, taxes and your connection has expired.
Robot company Scalper claims to have secured over 2,000 PS5 orders from GAME [VGC]
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