https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/ps5-scalpers-are-threatening-the-long-term-health-of-the-console-report-claims/

Still think scalping isn't a big deal? It's hurting Sony's (and surely MS's as well) bottom line because no games are being sold. Why? Because the scalpers are hoarding them off with bots. Console sales mean nothing if no one's actually playing them because they're sold at a loss. And the funny thing is, I told you all this would happen, and I was proven right.

Yeah, yeah, I know what the response is gonna be, "the gobermint can't tell me what I can and can't do with something I bought (read: botted)" yes they can, and they already do, like I said, ticket scalping is illegal. When you're scamming consumers and hurting company's profits, I believe they have every right to get involved. One publisher even said they might delay their PS5 games because of this shit. 'Cuz if no one's actually buying the games, no one profits.

Should both Sony and Microsoft seriously consider March as viable release month for their next gen console so that enough supply is provided in the market and that their early adapters who are considered their most avid consumers will not suffer? Sony and its game developers will benefit a lot too.

Scalping is a big problem in the short term but it's not gonna matter much in the long term. As supply ramps up, it will eventually catch up with demand like it always does. It's just a matter of waiting.

This year has just been a shit timing for a bunch of things. Covid plus so many launches in both pc and console hardware space just makes things that much harder to get. Especially during holiday season.

Random analyst says x, any affect from scalpers will be short lived. If scalping continues to be a thing it means people are still buying them which means games will be also sold, if scalpers can't sell their stock the scalping will end.

Remember when i was tagged as Trolling in another thread because i brought up scalpers helping sell out the PS5 and Series X consoles.
I tried to tell people that this is a big deal and people choose to ignore reality.

Even taking as fact every suggestion made in the argument, why is there any need for government intervention? Seems like an issue that manufacturers and retailers can solve on their own.

There isn't a reason the government needs to get involved, this is clearly a manufacturer and retailer issue. If they have a high demand item and make very little of them, that should fall on the manufactures and launch dates etc

Scalpers hurt consumers not the games companies or hardware resellers.

A scalper exists to make a profit on something. For them to make a profit they have to shift a product. So for every product that is snatched by bots/sneaky people there will be a product being sold. Yes some people will there fore have less to spend on consoles after buying a scalped product but the people that buy from scalpers want to buy it for a specific reason and would (in the case of consoles) have factored this into their purchases. So if they wanted it for cod, there limit would be cod + scalp price.

As for the article, it only references physical and this has been declining. Sony have also shifted to providing a digital only platform with the ps5. Factor in COVID with people not able to go and buy the physical games from game shops and you get the result of fewer physical shipments. Sony also chucked in 15 games to play through the ps+ bundle.

The only thing which can be taken from the article is - Physical sales are down.
My response to that is - yeah, its expected.

Demon's Souls hits 93 on Metacritic

Nope. Is Final Fantasy 7 Remake a PS1 game ?