PS5 and Xbox Series X scalpers have caught the attention of the UK government, and it may not end well for the retail market. Since the PS5 and Xbox Series X went up for pre-orders, stock has been taken up by scalpers and retailers using advanced bots to secure 1000 orders within minutes. As a result, the PS5 and Xbox Series X were incredibly difficult to obtain, which in turn drew a lot of anger from PlayStation and Xbox fans, and it caught the attention of many people who usually do not care much for the video. game industry, including the British government.
The situation got so bad that one scalper recently publicly boasted on Twitter that they had received 2,000 PS5 orders from GAME in its latest stock. That said, while retailers are out of control with the PS5 and Xbox Series X, their reign of terror may soon come to an end, at least in the UK.
Across the sea, the British government is beginning to take note of the situation, and it looks like it may soon take action. This week, the Scottish National Party, Douglas Chapman, revealed that he intends to propose a bill that will try to make the issue go away. According to Chapman, the average consumer currently has no fair access to the market, which is a problem.
“It is simply not in the interest of the consumer to have a lot of stock for popular, very exciting new products that are only bought up en masse. It does not give the ordinary consumer fair access to the market … It is just as unfair “For the average person who just wants to play their games or give their child a Christmas present. This situation is only going to get worse and worse.”
At the time of publication, no legislation had been proposed, let alone rejected, but six members of the Scottish National Party proposed an early motion calling for legislative proposals to sell retailers selling consoles at exorbitant prices. Will anything come of it? Who knows, but it’s safe to say that the retail market could be in trouble if the PS5 and Xbox Series X are not more readily available in 2021, and at the moment it does not look like they will. The former was finally available at Target today, and despite the fact that the stock was released very early in the morning, it sold out within minutes.
H / T, BBC AND Gaming Bible.