PLAYSTATION has had a number of ups and downs over the last few months, with fans not able to decide whether they love or hate it.
The announcement of the PS5 Pro fell flat with players after it was revealed that the upgraded console would cost £700/$700.
That is without accessories that came as standard with the original PS5, such as the disc drive and vertical stand.
However, public opinion quickly turned when people saw the new designs for PlayStation’s 30th anniversary.
PlayStation announced a new range of PS5 consoles and accessories with the classic grey colour scheme from the PS1 era.
The range includes controllers, a PS Portal, PS5 Slim and PS5 Pro bundles, and pre-orders went live on September 26.
People queued online for hours to secure their limited edition hardware, but many were left disappointed as they quickly sold out.
Thousands of pre-ordered bundles immediately appeared online on auction sites like eBay, with prices immediately rising above £10k for the Pro bundle.
The bundle costs almost £1k/$1k directly through PlayStation, meaning that resellers are making huge profits.
However, this isn’t the only time that the anniversary bundle will be available, and more will be put up for sale via other retailers at a later date.
Japan has now come up with a method to protect consumers from falling victim to scalpers in the region.
In order to be qualified to purchase any of the anniversary hardware, PlayStation wants buyers to prove they’re gamers.
Eligible customers must have played at least 30 hours of games on PS4 and PS5 between February 22, 2014, and September 19, 2024.
This means that those who have no intentions of playing the console and only wish to resell it will not be able to purchase it.
Despite PlayStation’s efforts, there have been criticisms of this method.
People believe it unfairly punishes those who are hoping to pick up a PlayStation console for the first time, or those who want to purchase a console as a gift.
This second scenario could be particularly common given that the holidays are soon after the hardware’s release.
Others are worried that 30 hours is a very low limit and many people may qualify even if they intend to resell the products.
The use of bots to purchase and resell limited-edition products before legitimate buyers has risen drastically as companies fail to find a reliable way to prevent it.
If you want to read more about PlayStation, check out how to play Metaphor: ReFantazio early.
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