Baldur’s Gate 3 is considered one of the best games of the last few years, perhaps of all time. Accordingly, the Collector’s Edition was in high demand and has been sold out since its release. Now, a reseller market has opened up, and the developers are not pleased at all.
Why is the version so expensive?
- The Collector’s Edition of Baldur’s Gate 3 is strictly limited to 25,000 copies. It has been sold out since July 2023 – a month before the game’s release.
- Baldur’s Gate 3 has been a huge hit since release. The Collector’s Edition contains various stickers, a fabric map of the game world, 3 boosters for Magic, a statue, a D20 die, and more, in addition to the game.
- Originally, the version costs 260 euros. Shortly after release, scalpers are demanding up to 2,000 euros for the Collector’s Edition. This has only gotten worse recently, with offers on eBay going for over 3,400 euros.
This is what Larian says: The Director of Publishing at Larian, Michael Douse, has now spoken out about the absurd prices. On X, the marketing head, who is quite active there, writes:
I hate scalpers, man. I understand how consumer goods work, but this Collector’s Edition is not consumer goods. It is designed to make someone happy, not rich. If you buy [such a thing] to trade, you are making someone sad, and that’s all.
The tweet is receiving a lot of support, with comments that eBay must do something against scalpers. Others ask if it is not possible to simply produce more Collector’s Editions.
However, it is rather unlikely that this will happen. After all, the limitation is part of what makes these editions special. Scalpers have been a significant problem in gaming for quite some time now.
Scalpers attempt to sell even failed games at high prices
People who buy limited availability goods often in large quantities at retail price, only to resell them at inflated prices, are called scalpers. Often, automated processes are even used here, against which a real, human buyer stands no chance.
Among the biggest outrages in gaming over the last few years is the PS5, which was only available in small quantities for a long time. Scalpers made significant profits around the launch of the Sony console, trying to make money from it. Some, however, are stuck with their purchased goods.
With Baldur’s Gate 3, people even tried to sell editions that are actually not limited to the uninformed. A large part of scalping is thus essentially speculation.
This is evident in a more recent case of the failed shooter Concord. Here, some sellers apparently hope for a big deal with a game that only existed for a short time and may never exist again: While Concord is shutting down, scalpers are offering the PS5 version on eBay for up to 25,000 dollars
