The craze for the next generation consoles are a heaven-sent not only for gamers, but also for scheming opportunists. There are reports that scalpers have earned more than $50 million in selling next generation consoles.
According to a new report, scalpers have made over $23 million selling next gen Xbox consoles and over $30 million selling next gen PlayStation consoles. pic.twitter.com/sHQ8XloYSr
— IGN (@IGN) December 16, 2020
Given the popularity of these consoles, scalpers will capitalize on the opportunity by purchasing a huge stock, which will be sold in premium. Due to their high volume of orders, the consoles would immediately run out of stock in stores. A month ago, CrepChiefNotify, a UK-based scalper group, received backlash for their antics. They boldly mentioned that they have no regrets conducting these activities. Some would go as far as selling these consoles beyond $1,000.
To make matters worse, there are new opportunities for these scalpers to carry on as reports circulated of console restocks. Walmart is currently conducting a 10 minute restock which could address the scalper issue as they'll have a plethora of available units within minutes.
Given these issues, its possible that some gamers will wait until the demand declines. However this wouldn't address the problem as scalpers may still carry on with their duties even after the dwindling demand. This will surely be an eye-opener for Sony and Microsoft as they'll have to look for ways in addressing these issues.
Both the Xbox Series X and PlayStaion 5 Disc version are valued at $499. There are cheaper alternatives in Xbox's Series S ($299) and PlayStation 5's digital version ($399). The prices could even go down due to the holiday sales, but this could also be an opportunity for scalpers to flood the markets.
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