Lack Of Interest In The PS5 Pro Is Forcing Scalpers To Sell Them For A Loss

Good

It's a big win overall, but some of the scumbags still got something out of it:

Even though scalpers are taking a loss on the Pro, those who banked on people flocking to buy the PS5 disc drive are turning a profit. The Pro is digital only which means you'll need to buy a disc drive if you want to use it to play physical media. It took a while, but the disc drive appears to be sold out everywhere which means people are buying them for inflated prices through resale sites.

Not the worst thing but still annoying, like whatever the opposite of a silver lining is.

Poo-filled center?
- I would argue poo would be the opposite of a higher tier material like gold. Spit maybe?
Ah yes, the “pro” product with fewer features and versatility, I love it!
- Enshittification
Yeah, that sucks but at this point I'll take any win I can get over scalpers.

Well that brightened up my morning a bit.

Same feelings. Didn’t even know PS5 Pro was a thing, but any time scalpers get screwed is cause for some celebration.

Thanks Sony for making such a flop that scalpers need to sell at a loss.

Just keep it sealed until China invades Taiwan next year and the supply dries up. Or for Trump's tariffs to cause a price increase. Or for Trump banning violent video games like he said he would.
I don't think it's flopping. I think they've just had plenty of time to get supply in order.

That's some good news for a change.

Fan-fucking-tastic. Fuck all scalpers with a frozen rusty pole.

Good.

The PS5 is perfectly adequate considering it's price.

It's not like the PS4 gen where 4K suddenly became a thing halfway through and they had to pivot to support it. This is a needless upgrade. If you were already obsessed with graphical wankery and have more money than sense, the RTX 4080 and 4090 are right there.

They're charging new-gen console money for new-gen console hardware upgrades, but all the games are still being made for the non-pro PS5, and they will continue to be made for the old hardware until the PS6 launches, so there's no reason to upgrade.

Same reason I'm perfectly happy with my Series S. The only substantial difference between it and the Series X are the storage space and disc drives, and I play gamepass games almost exclusively.
- I think the main price issue is that they're charging nearly twice as much as the base console for what is charitably going to be half a generation of gaming on it.
  
  If it was launched this way on day one of PS5 launch it would have been a much more attractive proposition. But the reality is we're probably like three years from a PS6 that will eclipse it in every way while running games this one cannot.

The whole scalper thing these last several years makes me very glad I'm just a PC guy, know how to build my own stuff, and that nearly all games get ported to PC now.

Do you build your own gpus too? Between ML and chip shortage, PC builders were affected much worse than any console users.
- That wasn't my experience.
  
  I had a Lenovo Legion I bought in 2019 that lasted me until last week when I decided to upgrade to an ASUS ROG. One doesn't need high-end parts to game on PC and the technology does a much better job of keeping up with games as they become more advanced.
I finally created a Steam account when I realized I don't need to get a PS Vita to play Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus. Steam has been getting quality games for years and I wasn't paying attention.
- Nice!
  
  Gaming, I find, is just way more accessible on PC than console.
The high end PC part market, especially GPUs, is heavily controlled by scalpers as well, similar to brand new consoles.
- That's true, but you don't need super high-end parts to game on PC. You do need a PS5 to play PS5 games.

The Pro is digital only which means you'll need to buy a disc drive if you want to use it to play physical media.

OK so physical media is analogue only?
WTF do they mean by digital only? Every console ever made has been "digital only".

But maybe this "digital only" where you can't use physical media, is the reason it doesn't sell so well.
That's what happened to Xbox some years ago too.

Not sure if you're being sarcastic but "digital only" means the only way to put games on the device is via digital downloads (aka from the web store downloaded via internet).

Each company tries this because it effectively eliminates the third party/aftermarket sales and gets them a monopoly on prices. Never have to lower the price on a game to move physical copies of you don't have physical copies to store, so games no matter how old can stay at full price for as long as they like. Don't have to cut your margins by selling at a reduced price to a third party to resell so all the profit comes home.

I know why companies do it, it makes sense financially. But turns out a lot of people aren't fans of not being allowed to have the option to physically own their own media, even if they don't always do it.
- Not sure if you’re being sarcastic but “digital only” means the only way to put games on the device is via digital downloads
  
  I'm pretty sure the keyword here is download and not digital, what other kind of download do they imagine?
  I was absolutely being sarcastic about calling downloads digital, since it's the only kind there is. Even an old acoustic coupler with 75/300 baud is still a digital download, despite being on an analogue line. Which in principle everything up until we got mobile and fiber were. Except ISDN
  
  Each company tries this because it effectively eliminates the third party/aftermarket sales and gets them a monopoly on prices.
  
  Which is why the same attempt originally failed very very badly on Xbox. So yes I absolutely agree on your last part.
  Personally I wouldn't mind that it is download only, if I could save the copy, and buy the downloads as freely from competing shops as used to be the case with installation discs.
- That's a redefinition of the word "digital".
  
  Digital just means it comes as elements of information which can only have discrete values (for example 0 or 1, i.e. a bit) whilst analog can have any value in a continuous range of infinite precision (for example, the depth of the grooves in an LP disk or the voltage on a line like in telephone landlines).
  
  Pretty much all computer tech nowadays is digital (though it used to be that it was mixed: for example CRT monitors actually received an analog signal), and that includes the disks (all generations since CDs store data as bits and bytes, not as continuous lines of arbitrary intensity).
  
  Mind you, maybe the word "digital" has been redefined by the marketing types recently for use in communications with non-experts (frankly, I don't know for sure), but for us old hands in Tech (certainly for me who am an Electronics Engineer, an area were "digital" is a technical term with precise meaning) that word being use like this to mean "download-only" just jumps out as incorrect.

While I'm fine with them losing money, couldn't they just return it to wherever they bought it for purchase price? Like if I pre-order a ps5 pro from gamestop and don't open the box, I could just return it? Unless return policies have greatly changed...

Those stores are aware of scalpers at this point and have built it into their return policy, I believe.

What? And here I have saved up a good three fiddy! Last offer guys!

Damn you Loch Ness Monsta! Now I done told you I ain’t about to be sellin you no Ps5 Pro for no Tree Fiddy!

I heard they were lowering manufacturing for the Pro because they were anticipating lower interest so then they could still say that the Pro model sold out despite the criticism. Hopefully it so grossly under performs the Sony sees the errors of their ways.

The damage Sony and Microsoft have done to console gaming is showing. More people getting driven to PC everyday. I had only consoles my whole life, but the steam deck showed me that my next gaming machine will be a PC.

For me the advantage of the consoles is the disc drive and the ability to trade your games.

The advantage of PC games is that they are usually all working on your PC, you can install mods and that a PC is a lot more versatile than a console.