PS5 Pro Pre-Orders Are Stronger Than PS4 Pro, But Scalpers Are Losing Money 1
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While we all ranted and raved about the PS5’s unavailability at launch, tech enthusiasts tend to act like unless a product is completely sold out and being sold at a significant mark-up on reseller websites, it’s a failure.

That of course is not the case, and if a manufacturer has produced the right amount of stock to meet demand, it should be simple to walk into a shop and purchase whatever you want.

That’s certainly the situation with the PS5 Pro right now, which is largely available at most retailers around the world. (The less said about its elusive disc drive accessory, the better.)

And it means scalpers are actually losing money on the console, which is great news for all of us. VGC did the research and found, generally, around the world, the supercharged system is being sold for more or less what it retails for on reseller websites. In some cases, scalpers are trying to quickly flip the stock by knocking a little money off, ultimately losing them cash.

All of this feeds into a sentiment that, actually, the PS5 Pro may not be doing very well. But according to boss Hiroki Totoki, pre-orders are tracking ahead of its predecessor the PS4 Pro, presumably right in line with the platform holder’s expectations.

“It is a high-end product targeted at core customers, so we haven’t been eyeing a large sales plan to begin with,” he said of the system’s $700/£700 price point in a paywalled interview with Nikkei, translated from Japanese. “I’m under the impression that the product is performing slightly stronger than the pre-orders of the PS4 Pro during the same period, so I don’t think [the price] is adversely affecting the product’s sales plan.”

The PS4 Pro ended up representing around 15-20% of the overall PS4’s install base, and we’d expect the PS5 Pro to fall on the lower end of that, considering the price of the console and the current economic climate. That’ll still be a good result for Sony, though, and clearly the system is off to a strong start. Expect it to continue to sell steadily as more major titles release, including next year’s GTA 6.

[source asia.nikkei.com, via videogameschronicle.com]