Sony found a radical solution against scalpers
The PS5 has fallen victim to a large number of scalpers that have completely ruined its economy. Two years later, Sony got scared for its PSVR 2 and pulled its fangs again.
Since its release, the PS5 has been hard to find and things are just starting to look up and PS5s are coming in the millions. The shortage of semiconductors due to Covid19 is one of the causes, if not the main one, of the supply difficulties. But if the console can’t be seen in the stalls, it’s also the scalpers’ fault. These people who buy things in bulk, here PS5s, to resell them at astronomical prices. From now on, Sony will bring out the heavy artillery.
Sony VS scalpers
Asked by Famitsu a few days ago, Hideaki Nishino, vice-president of Sony’s console section, said that he was deeply saddened by the situation and was sorry to see that some players were punished for this practice.
To try to counter the problem, allow gamers to own their PS5 and regulate supply concerns, Sony has already deployed some internal measures and even launched an email campaign to directly offer of PS5s to its customers.
Only here, the problem has not been solved so far and we are still finding PS5s at completely surreal prices. Moreover, if the manufacturer said that the problems should be controlled naturally, he is still afraid of encountering this type of behavior in his next PSVR 2, and to avoid this, Sony removed the fangs.
PS5, PSVR 2… you have to define yourself to buy them
The firm announced that it has implemented a security device that forces potential buyers to identify themselves as a legitimate customer before their PSVR 2 can be pre-ordered.
By adding this extra layer of imperatives, Sony hopes to limit scalpers’ freedom and perhaps even curb the problem altogether.
This added security requires consumers to prove they already own Sony equipment and must have several dozen hours of gaming under their belt on the PS5 or PS4 if they want to register and pre-order. PSVR 2 headset order. An offer that is currently only ordered through the manufacturer’s official website, the only place where it is possible to pre-order the popular PSVR 2 at the moment. A radical decision that some users have already found particularly disturbing, but if Sony says that the proposal is difficult to implement, a similar system could see the light of day soon for the purchase of a PS5 .
Currently, while we have received a lot of feedback about PSVR 2 pre-orders, and some are asking if a similar system can be implemented for PS5. However, it is difficult to use customer usage history on a large scale due to data protection and security concerns.
Famitsu
As for PSVR 2, Sony plans at this time to make a mass upstream to ensure that it has stock, which will also make it possible here not to create a shortage and therefore not to see scalpers land. Now it remains to be seen if it will work.
We ran out of PS5s at launch, so this time we’re making enough to meet demand. We believe that the resale is happening because of an insufficient number of machines, and we believe that this situation is not healthy, so we want to make sure that we have the right volume to start this time.
Famitsu
The year 2023 promises to be busy
Sony has every interest in ensuring PS5 stock for next year as the new year is about to start in January 2023 which is already full of game releases. In general, 2023 is the whole year that should be important for the manufacturer and he has no room for error.
Sony will indeed deploy its PSVR 2 from February, and also expect a large number of PS5 exclusives such as Forspoken, Final Fantasy 16 or Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. Not to mention unannounced games such as the multiplayer of The Last of Us can create a surprise in the current next year.
