UK retailer GAME puts in measures to stop PS5 scalpers

Follows people using bots to apparently secure over 2,000 consoles.

UK retailer GAME has said that it has introduced measures to stop scalpers buying huge numbers of PlayStation 5s.

In a statement to VGC, the company said that it was checking any orders made to make sure that each customer is buying just one PS5. This comes in the wake of GAME having a restock of Sony's new and highly sought after console on Tuesday, January 19, which resulted in huge digital queues of people trying to snap up stock.

The consoles sold out in under ten minutes, with scalper bot Carnage boasting afterwards that it had helped people secure 2,000 PS5 consoles.

“PlayStation 5’s continue to be in very high demand and that demand far outweighs current supply," GAME wrote.

"We have strong measures in place to help ensure that our ‘1 per customer’ statement is maintained to allow for as many individual customers to successfully purchase as possible.

“All pre-orders are subject to automatic checks and order updates such as cancellations following these checks take place after a customer will have received a valid order confirmation email. At the present time, these orders are still pre-orders and as such, no payments have yet been taken from customers. Payments will commence once our order checks have been completed.”

This isn't the first time scalpers have used bots to buy up all stock of eagerly sought after items. In November, another group called CrepChiefNotify boasted that it had scored 3,500 PS5 consoles – 2,472 on launch, following "just under 1,000" pre-orders that it secured in September.

This group also boasted that it had bought 1,000 Xbox Series X/S consoles from UK retailer Very, but the company cancelled all of these orders. Sometimes people just get what they deserve.

UK politicians have suggested that the government introduce legislation to make it illegal to resell goods bought with bots in the wake of the PS5, Xbox Series X/S and Nvidia RTX 30 series cards launching at the end of 2020. All of these items had limited stock and were, therefore, prime targets for scalpers to sell them on in hopes of huge profits.

PlayStation 5s, for example, are going for as much as almost £1,000 on Ebay, while sellers are asking for in the region of £600 for Xbox Series X consoles.

Second-hand retailer CEX is also charging £815 for PS5s and offering customers £625 to sell them their consoles. It will also cost you £630 to buy an Xbox Series X, too.