PS5 PlayStation

It's beginning to look like the dry days of the great PS5 drought might finally be behind us; Sony will certainly tell you they are. Consoles can be found in the wild now; that much is true, and this effect is being felt. Markets do tend to react to economic factors like, say, an increase in retail stock following an extended period of scarcity, after all. Someone had to come up short when the music stopped, and hardware scalpers have found themselves with too many PS5s and insufficient chairs.

Ever since the PS5 launched, scalpers have been an everpresent issue the world over, one that has both frustrated and deeply upset passionate Sony boss Jim Ryan. In the interest of journalistic impartiality, it should be noted that some scalpers don't appreciate all the negativity, and believe their methods are justified by high-minded free market philosophy and the immutable laws of supply and demand, with the whole situation being exacerbated by COVID.

But with the world marching onward, scalpers have been left holding the bag, forced to slash the prices of their unsavoury wares. Where once upon a time, absolute fools would drop tens of thousands of dollars to get their hands on Sony's then-new console (with one particularly silly Aussie reportedly dropping 50k dollarydoos on one), now they are going for less than they do in stores. This should go without saying, but where possible, always purchase hardware from official retailers, if only for the peace of mind offered by a receipt alone.

Is this the feel-good story you need today, or should we open our minds to more enlightened modes of economic thought? Dump your stock in the comments section below.

[source reddit.com, via thegamer.com]