Retailers Locking Console Restocks Behind Paywalls

[Moonface]

We're all far too aware of the difficulty of getting hold of a PS5, whether it be due to low stock availability or bots grabbing everything to flip it for a profit. Retailers have decided that rather than fix the problem of bots, they'll just profit off of the problem instead by locking console restocks behind paywalls.

CNET: As the holidays arrive, retailers are forcing more PS5 restocks behind paywalls

Wal-Mart is offering buyers an hour of early access to the checkout button if they are subscribed to Wal-Mart Plus, which comes in at $13 a month or $98 a year.
Best Buy is granting early access to PS5 restocks if you're signed up to their Totaltech program, which comes in at $200 a year and that is the only subscription option.
GameStop is offering consoles to those with a PowerUp Rewards Pro subscription, coming in at $15 a year. The cheapest by far, but still trying to capitalize on the desperation of buyers rather than fixing a broken system (although GameStop can't even manage to fix their own business properly so what can you expect?).

So far it's only limited to PS5's, but Nintendo have already said they're having production issues due to difficulty obtaining parts, and as the holidays roll in I can see Xbox getting pulled into this too as demand is bound to go up across the board the closer Christmas gets. No idea if this is happening outside of US territories but I'd be surprised if it is, since America is the land of capitalism before reasonable solutions.

The best part is that bots can still just get in if the people behind them are willing to throw down the money for those bots to get in the system. Maybe the subscription approach will limit the number of registrations due to addresses but that limit could easily be placed on orders themselves without this stupid paywall, so either the limit isn't there or the retailers opted to charge people. But given this paywall doesn't guarantee shit except early access, and the retailers make the same amount of money from the consoles no matter who buys them, I can see them just letting anyone in and making it appear exclusive, when really it's just a way to get money out of the buyers who continue to miss out. Getting a console outside of this system is probably going to become impossible now because it'll just sell out before public access opens up, unless the retailers start splitting stock between both systems.

What do you folks think about this move?

[Nightingale]

Yeah, this is about the part where I start breaking things.

[Moonface]

Yeah, this is about the part where I start breaking things.

Too bad that you and anyone else who disagrees with this idea are going to be drowned out by the people who will happily vote with their wallets to keep this practice going. Although on the bright side, eventually this well will dry up once these systems stop being hard to acquire and such, but it'll probably just get transferred onto other popular things like the next Apple device and whatnot.

[Maniakkid25]

I'll be honest, when I saw this headline, I started laughing. It's such an absurd thing made manifest: having to pay in order to GAIN THE ABILITY to pay for product. And I've already seen defenders of this practice, because its meant to stop scalpers and the like, but this very concept is almost dystopian in how absurd it is.

[ShiraNoMai]

Late stage capitalism, my comrades.

Seriously though, I'm reminded of the time I had to wait in a 2 hour line just to get into the (at the time) new Harry Potter World at Universal. Just the area, nevermind the rides and even the stores had waits! Like, what is this?!

I see the initial thought behind this and think "there's a possibility here" and then the planning stage comes and you just skip ahead to the implementation. Pay no mind to how it actually works and sounds outside of "hey, we solved the scalping issue!"

[Mr EliteL]

Yeah I highly doubt the scalping will stop even with these...paywalls over getting to buy. If anything they'll add on to the price they're selling the consoles for, FFS. So the cycle remains the same as it has been.

I hate the idea anyway, at least I have a Switch and don't intend to buy the OLED. PS5 though, crud, but it wasn't like I was aiming to get one soon, although I had been thinking about it recently with Elden Ring. Was going to wait for an inevitable alternate PS5 version, maybe there won't be paywalls then but if this plan takes off and turns out to have benefits then there could be. Better not. Seriously shouldn't have come to this.

[Dragon Lord]

The Gamestop one isn't that bad, honestly. For $15 a year for the ability to get early access to PS5 stock to increase your chances of getting one on top of the other benefits of the service is a pretty decent deal. The better chance of a PS5 is basically just a bonus on top of everything else the service offers. You'd easily get your $15 back in discounts/sales in no time, plus the increased chance of landing a PS5.

The Best Buy one is a huge rip-off though. You are basically paying scalper prices at that point. $200 subscription + $499 console + Taxes + Shipping + any games/extra controller. It's sad to see Best Buy being the worst of this bunch, because they actually used to be the best place to buy new games when they had the Best Buy Gamer Club.

[ShiraNoMai]

It's fine for all those that currently have those subscriptions, but really screws over the rest of us that can't get access to it (or don't wish to subscribe to a thing only to get access to a CHANCE of getting a thing).

It's just all around a shitty situation because of the chip shortage being coupled with those that want to take advantage of the short supply to make a quick buck (scalping).

[Moonface]

So far it's only limited to PS5's, but Nintendo have already said they're having production issues due to difficulty obtaining parts, and as the holidays roll in I can see Xbox getting pulled into this too as demand is bound to go up across the board the closer Christmas gets. No idea if this is happening outside of US territories but I'd be surprised if it is, since America is the land of capitalism before reasonable solutions.

Well, it didn't take long for this to start becoming true. Walmart is now putting restocks of Xbox Series X consoles behind their Walmart Plus subscription, except it looks like people were using free trials to get into these events without putting down money and Walmart became aware of that; now you can only get into these early access restocks with a paid subscription only: https://www.cnet.com/tech/gaming/xbox-se...-required/

It doesn't look like Switch's are behind any paywalls yet, and I don't think they will be since when I went to Target yesterday, they said it took them 4 hours to sell 25 Switch bundles they had come in for Black Friday. There's no way PS5 and XSX stocks would last even half an hour with that many available in a single store.