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Id Software co-founder John Carmack has come up with a new approach to tackling the scourge of scalpers and resellers who profit from the global semiconductor shortage: auctioning off new consoles and hardware. This would prevent bots from being able to instantly buy consoles as soon as they go on sale. But it would also bring some of its own complications.
The supply of PS5 and Xbox Series X / S consoles has not been able to keep up with demand, while PC hardware such as Nvidia’s latest line of RTX graphics cards has also been ripped off by scalpers and resold. at a price that includes a large mark-up. . When the numbers were last calculated, it was estimated that resellers made more than $ 82 million in profit.
Carmack’s idea is for Sony, Microsoft, and Nvidia to cut the middleman out of commerce and sell console inventory themselves. Would that initially lead to incredibly high offers from interested buyers? Absolutely, but Carmack believes this strategy would prevent resellers from getting their hands on next-gen consoles and making a profit afterward.
“Given the shortages and speculators on things like 3090 GPUs and new consoles, it looks like we would be much better off with a transparent bidding system directly from manufacturers and a more efficient marketplace,” Carmack wrote. “The channel world has prevented this in the past, but we could go beyond that for many products. There would be a lot of outrage at the prices advertised up front, but the removal of middlemen should ultimately be better. benefit consumers. “
In another postCarmack also mentioned that the current low availability of these consoles remains beneficial to both Sony and Microsoft’s businesses, as the consoles have consistently sold out within minutes whenever new stock was introduced. Fighting the reseller market by pricing these consoles higher could damage the current consumer demand for these high-value items.
The Marketplace continues to be a high stakes game where the fastest fingers come first for anyone looking to buy a PS5 or Xbox Series X. Resellers instantly take over consoles using an army of malware and robots to do so, which led the UK government’s Digital and Culture Minister Caroline Dinenage to propose a bill that would make the act of scalping consoles illegal.
If you’re still trying to order a PS5, check out our hub to see if it’s in stock at major retailers near you.
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