Since the start and till today, all the products developed by Microsoft have been being always a target for scalpers. As a result, now the company faces a shortage of their latest products such as Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and so on. To solve this problem, the company defined a new solution called Console Purchase Pilot. This scheme must solve this problem.
The problem is that scalpers buy big amounts of consoles and then re-sell them to players several times expansive. In this way, it’s unprofitable for both Microsoft and players. Scalpers don’t use consoles at all, they don’t buy any subscriptions, games, and so forth as their only aim is to sell a console more expensive than it was bought. This in turn makes potential users buy an overpriced console or decline a purchase at all. Right now, there is a few Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S that is available on the official market. That’s why the company decided to try a new approach of selling their products.
At the start, the scheme will be tested for Xbox users from the USA only. However, if it will be successful, it will likely be shared around the world. The Xbox Insider members will have the possibility to reserve a console using a special application on Xbox One. In this way, the company will have the necessary information about a person who wants to buy a console to ensure they are not bots that are used by scalpers. Using this approach, the company looks forward to decreasing possible loopholes for non-players.
So, right now players can reserve and buy Xbox Series X using Console Purchase Pilot. Nevertheless, the testing is limited and there is no information by which parameters the company chooses users for testing. Perhaps the reason for such an approach is to avoid any leaks and keep the scheme useful and effective against scalpers. The company plans to come to the scheme into force as soon as possible. It proves that scalpers are a big issue for Microsoft and if they started to make attempts to prevent such trouble earlier, perhaps it won’t be as dangerous for the company as it is now.
The same problem has been faced by PlayStation as well. However, there is no confirmed information that they will somehow fight it. The shortage can’t be ignored for sure and Sony has stated that its consoles won’t be available in the numbers as that was planned primarily until at least 2023 year.
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