Summary
Pre-orders for the PS5 Pro 30th Anniversary Edition are finally live in Japan, but there’s a unique restriction that other regions didn’t have.
As reported byVGC, you need at least 30 hours logged on PS4 or PS5 over the last ten years with a registered PSN account.
Hopefully, This Will Curb Scalping In Japan
In other regions like the UK and US, scalping was a huge issue. Entire anniversary bundles wereimmediately listed on eBay for as much as $10,000as pre-orders sold out within mere hours.
One user even posted a direct warning under the guise of selling such a bundle, threatening tosteal consolesfrom scalpers before they’re ever dispatched. Clearly, frustration around scalping is at a boiling point, but Japan might have a winning strategy on its hand.
By asking people to use a registered account to prove that they are genuine PlayStation users, Sony is putting a hurdle between idealistic buyers, who are interested only in turning a quick profit, and genuine customers. Of course, there will be scalpers who also play on the console, but it should prevent the swarm of bots from automatically sweeping up pre-orders.
Pre-orders are live for the next two weeks in Japan, ending on October 14, so we’ll just have to wait and see how good a job this strategy does at stopping scalpers. Whatever the case, many are hoping to see this restriction applied elsewhere in future, given the extremely long queues and speed at which bundles sold out, only to resurface on third-party marketplaces at double the price.
PS5 Pro 30th Anniversary Bundle
The headliner in PlayStation’s 30th anniversary collection, the PS5 Pro bundle is the upgraded version of PlayStation’s newest console with a PS1 makeover. The bundle includes the console, a matching DualSense Edge, a charging station, and a grey cover for your disc drive if you have one.
