Andy Edser
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In news sure to have you crying in your cereal, it seems that Sony PlayStation 5 Pro scalpers have forgotten basic market economics, and as a result, they’re struggling to shift the new console at anything close to the ridiculous reseller markups we saw around the launch of the base model.
For the uninitiated, “scalping” a product essentially means buying early offerings in bulk at the earliest opportunity, denying many average shoppers the chance to pick one up at MSRP. The products are then listed on online retailers like eBay, usually with a ridiculous markup, ensuring that the reseller makes a tidy profit on each purchase while they have control of the stock.
This was exactly what happened to the PS5 in 2020 and 2021 (in combination with a shortage of chips brought on by the pandemic), which meant that it became extremely difficult to grab one at its retail price for many gamers.
However, a seemingly smaller demand for the PS5 Pro, alongside widespread availability among many retailers, means that resellers have been spotted dumping PS5 Pro stock for the same $699 MSRP as retail (via Techspot). Some have even been spotted selling for slightly cheaper, suggesting that this is one product that’s become bad news for the reseller market.
Both US and UK resellers look to have been affected by the lower demand and higher supply of the new consoles, although it’s not the case across the board. Japan still looks to have something of a short supply, with reseller markups spotted between $65 and $130.
Still, once listing costs and shipping have been accounted for, it still seems likely that these resellers will be just about breaking even—and perhaps even taking a loss in some circumstances.
The PS5 Pro has been long-awaited and has been making headlines since its announcement by virtue of the fact that it’s currently the most powerful game console ever released. Featuring a much more powerful GPU with 60 compute units and 18 Gbps GDDR6, it’s certainly got specs to impress by console standards—although we’d be remiss if we didn’t point out that those with a modern gaming PC have nothing to worry about.
Still, should you be saving your pennies to buy Sony’s latest and greatest, it looks like you shouldn’t have too much trouble getting hold of one for its intended price. Our Tyler has been rather taken with his pre-release model, as it finally brings console gamers up to our lofty 60 fps high-settings standards thanks to some help from Sony’s PSSR upscaling solution.
It won’t be keeping any of our best gaming PC picks up at night, but still, it’s an achievement nonetheless—especially for the right price.
Smooth, high-fidelity gaming should be available to us all, that’s what I say. And for those that were hoping to strangle the market to make a profit? Better luck next time, I guess.