by Leora & Noah
The bot-buying of Playstation 5s has surged by 800%. This makes it near impossible for consumers to get their hands on a brand new PS5 at the retail price. The Ps5, one of, if not the most popular gaming systems, is not only popular to the average consumer and dedicated gamer, but it is also a hot item for scalping retail bots.
These nasty algorithms pick up popular items, like the Ps5 within milliseconds of them being released, giving the average customer no chance to get it for themselves. The correct terminology is called “scalping” and is over-inflating the market for video game consoles. Those involved with these bots, scalpers, utilize these bots to buy large quantities of popular items and resell them for double to triple the original price. Many people across social media voice their frustration with these bots.
Playstation tweets out, “It’s official: PS5 has sold 10 million consoles. Thank you!” To which the company was met with a fluster of negative comments. Complaints against scalpers took the announcement by storm. One user tweeted, “Unfortunately many of those were bought then sold for a higher price thanks to bots. I’m still trying to get one since it’s been released.”
The great demand for Ps5s, brings up another issue. “Could have been 50 million consoles if they were in stock. No chip shortage excuses. Make consoles now,” an angry twitter user wrote.
Ps5s utilize semiconductor microchips. Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the demand for products that use microchips, like laptops and gaming consoles, has gone up, due to everybody being trapped inside. The problem with this is the shortage of semiconductor microchips that began around the start of the pandemic. Public health restrictions slowed down or completely closed factories, substantially the production of microchips, and in turn, the Ps5 as well.
You win some and you lose some, and in this case, the retail bots prevailed, and the average consumer did not. The demand for the Ps5 kept going up and up, while the supply was taking a nosedive. As the holiday season approaches, to avoid disappointment, we suggest keeping your gifts less on the technological side.