Users on social media have erupted against GameStop, the North American video games retailer, after noticing that the company was charging an eye-watering $4,950 for an XBOX Series X X25 Limited Edition console. Using the Wayback Machine, I hopped back to the most recent snapshot of the page, October 26th, and saw it listed for just $999.
However, if you look at the listing now, you’ll see that it’s going for $1,995. The price changed before my very eyes when I was looking up the special edition console, released to celebrate XBOX’s 25th anniversary.
Clerical Error or Scalping Gone Wrong?
On social media, folks raging at GameStop have declared this an act of scalping, calling for XBOX to cut ties with the company for what they’re dubbing malicious behavior. The company has now doubled the cost of the X25 XBOX Series X console in just a couple of weeks, but it almost quadrupled the price.
I’m sure it was a clerical error, right?
Here’s what I saw when I was checking out the listing:
And this is what you’ll see if you head to the site now:
Before it went out of stock, you could have bought the X25 Limited Edition XBOX Series X console directly from Microsoft for around $899.99, a fraction of what GameStop ramped the price up to, and less than half of the cost of the new, adjusted price.
GameStop has been called out for predatory behavior like this in the past. They’re selling PS5 Pro consoles for a whopping $1,400 in the run-up to GTA 6, and they’ve been exhibiting ‘scalping’ behavior linked to recent Pokémon card launches, according to netizens.
Did GameStop jack up the price of the X25 Limited Edition to take advantage of the gaming titan’s quarter-century anniversary? It’s possible. We’ve reached out to GameStop for some clarity on the matter.
Are you shocked by this pricing debacle? Let us know your thoughts on the Insider Gaming Discord server.
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Grant has been gaming for 30+ years and in the industry for 10+. You'll probably find him playing a post-apocalyptic game or an extraction shooter somewhere.
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