February 2021

Nintendo Announces Very Strong Financial Results & Updates Game Sales; Full-Year Forecast Increased

3 years 1 month ago

Today  Nintendo announced its quarterly financial results for the nine-month period ended on December 31, 2021.

First of all, we learn that the console manufacturer’s results were extremely solid, recording a +37.3% increase year-on-year in sales and a massive +98.2% increase in operating profit year-on-year.

The percentage of sales outside of Japan was 77.6%

You can find all the relevant charts below.

Author
Giuseppe Nelva

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Nintendo Switch Has Shipped 79.87 Million Units; Prediction by March Increased to 82.27 Million

3 years 1 month ago

Today  Nintendo announced its quarterly financial results and published an update to the number of Switch and 3DS units shipped worldwide since the consoles’ release.

The data you’ll see below is updated as of December 31, 2020, when the latest fiscal quarter (which began on October 1) ended.

In the infographic below you can see exactly how many Nintendo Switch units have been shipped to retailers, alongside shipped units for game software. We also get the usual info for the veteran 3DS portable console, which is still chugging along.

The Nintendo Switch has now reached 79.87 million units shipped worldwide.

This means that the console has shipped a humongous 11.57 million units in a single quarter between October and December.

We also hear that the estimated sell-through (which means sold to customers) for the console is over 74 million units.

Author
Giuseppe Nelva

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Soaring to new heights with The Climb and Free Solo

3 years 1 month ago

2020 was a strange year for us all but, speaking personally, I didn't have "start to appreciate rock climbing" on my bingo card. You'd have never caught me doing it; heights are not my friend and that's especially true outdoors. When that cold wind hits, consider me gone. Actually, that might explain this new fascination with climbing athletes, who wouldn't even blink at the sudden chill. With no means (or will) to try rock climbing directly, I took a different approach. I bought Crytek's The Climb.

Having gotten an Oculus Quest 2 last month, games were needed for my fancy new tech. Granted, a Quest port of a four-year-old Oculus Rift game is an odd choice, considering it didn't even launch with motion controls initially, but it set a high bar early for what VR could offer. Back in 2016, modern VR was finding its feet and VR games felt more like tech demos, not full experiences - a situation which has long since improved.

For game design, strength lies in simplicity and The Climb executes its concept well, utilising an extreme form of free solo climbing to advance. For the unaware, free soloing is a niche of its own in climbing circles, practised by very few athletes. Making their climb without protective equipment like ropes or harnesses, you can immediately see why. Despite being an incredibly dangerous approach, it translates well into a video game.

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Nintendo Switch Console Sales Have Passed 3DS With 79.87 Million Units Sold

3 years 1 month ago
Nintendo has announced that, as of December 31, 2020, the Nintendo Switch has officially passed the 3DS with 79.87 million console units sold. Furthermore, Animal Crossing: New Horizons has reached 31.18 million copies sold. As revealed in Nintendo's latest financial earnings release for the nine month period ending December 31, 2020, Animal Crossing: New Horizons is getting ever closer to passing Mario Kart 8 Deluxe's 33.41 million units sold as the best-selling Nintendo Switch game. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the third-best selling Switch game with 22.85 million units sold, followed by The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild's 21.45 million units, Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield's 20.35 million units, and Super Mario Odyssey's 20.23 million units. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/11/24/the-best-nintendo-switch-games-fall-2020-update"] Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield have also become the first Pokemon games to sell over 20 million units since Pokemon Gold and Silver. During the nine months ending December 31, 2020, titles released in the fiscal year beginning on April 1, 2020, saw a ton of success. Super Mario 3D All-Stars sold 8.32 million units, Paper Mario: The Origami King sold 3.05 million units, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity sold 2.84 million units, Pikmin 3 Deluxe sold 1.94 million units, and Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit sold 1.08 million units. Games released in previous fiscal years also continued to sell well in these nine months, led by Animal Crossing: New Horizons' 19.41 million units. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe sold 8.64 million units, Ring Fit Adventure sold 5.95 million units, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild sold 4.04 million units, and Super Smash Bros.
Author
Adam Bankhurst

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G.I. Joe's master ninja Snake Eyes now available in Fortnite

3 years 1 month ago

Well, that didn't take long at all. Following a short teaser at the start of the weekend, Epic Games has revealed that '80s toy/cartoon/comic book line G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero is indeed crossing over with the studio's mega-popular battle royale title, Fortnite.

Now available from the official Fortnite store, the Arashikage Clan set brings G.I. Joe's top infiltrator and highly skilled master ninja Snake Eyes to the Hunter roster. Shrouded in mystery, Snake Eyes was one of the first commandos to join G.I. Joe, and while his identity and background remain a mystery to this day, Snake Eyes has won many a battle via his totally rad ninja skills and commitment to the cause.

The Arashikage Clan set includes the Snake Eyes skin, a Katana Pickaxe and some Back Bling - which kills me a little more each time I write it. Sadly there's no sign of his trusty doge pal, Timber. Epic Games has not stated whether Snake Eyes will be joined by any of his G.I. Joe comrades or Cobra adversaries in the near future.

Still, he can always fight it out with the Predator... or Sarah Connor.

G.I. Joe's master ninja Snake Eyes now available in Fortnite screenshot

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Author
Chris Moyse

EU to rule on Microsoft's $7.5bn acquisition of ZeniMax by 5th March

3 years 1 month ago

The EU will make a decision on whether to approve Microsoft's $7.5bn acquisition of ZeniMax by 5th March.

Microsoft requested the European Commission approve the deal on 29th January 2021, a filing on the European Commission's website shows.

The commission's antitrust regulators can clear the deal during the preliminary review stage or open up an investigation if it has concerns, Reuters reports.

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Battleborn's remaining players wave goodbye amid shutdown

3 years 1 month ago

Gearbox's ill-fated team-based hero shooter Battleborn went dark yesterday, 31st January 2021 - leading its last remaining players to issue a tearful farewell.

With its servers deactivated, Battleborn is now no longer playable in any form - even single-player. It had already been removed from digital storefronts.

Battleborn was reasonably well-received when it launched for PC and consoles in 2016, with many praising its ambitious, inventive blend of first-person shooting and MOBA-style action, even if the combination didn't always land in practice.

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From Destruction Derby successor to this month's big PS5 exclusive: The Destruction AllStars interview

3 years 1 month ago

The release of Destruction All-Stars this week doesn't just mark the next big PlayStation 5 exclusive - it's the biggest project yet from Liverpool's Lucid Games, and the continuation of a legacy that takes in the likes of WipEout, MotorStorm, Destruction Derby, Project Gotham Racing and so much more besides, with the studio being formed from veterans of theUK racing scene. On the eve of its release, we spoke to game director Colin Berry - who previously worked on WipEout, Sonic AllStars Racing Transformed and much more besides - and Sony xDev's John McLaughlin about their new venture.

A lot of people get excited by the DNA of - your CV is hugely impressive, as is the rest of the teams'. How does that British racing scene DNA manifest itself in there?

Colin Berry: I mean, it's obviously there. It's interesting, you know, this is not just myself - there's probably about a dozen people at Lucid who I've worked with it three or four different times before - there's a good half of the staff who were either at Bizarre or Sony Liverpool or Evolution, or a mix of all three. So like you say we've worked on F1, WipEout, MotorStorm, Project Gotham, and I think that that helps. It certainly helped when xDev were looking for a developer to go, hey, what we're thinking of doing something maybe with the Destruction Derby franchise in that area - which was kind of what the initial genesis of Destruction All-Stars was.

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Nintendo Switch has now outsold 3DS

3 years 1 month ago

The latest Switch sales figures are in, and the momentum behind Nintendo's hybrid console is clear.

Nintendo Switch is now on 79.87m consoles sold, enough to beat the lifetime total of the mighty and long-lived Nintendo 3DS, which recorded 75.94m over its years on sale.

In the three months covering the 2020 holiday sales season, October to December, Switch sales were up seven per cent year-on-year, with 27 per cent of those sales for Switch Lite.

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Animal Crossing: New Horizons is starting to edge out Mario Kart 8 Deluxe as the best-selling Switch game of all time

3 years 1 month ago

The time has come to gather around the fire and look at the latest Nintendo software sales data. We have new information today as per Nintendo's fiscal financial results (ending December 31, 2020), and the million-seller chart is starting to heat up significantly.

The top story is easily the rise of Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Last March, it didn't have a spot, because it didn't exist. That's less than a year ago! But already, over the course of roughly nine months (as far as this report is concerned), it's skyrocketed to 31.18 million units. That's right on the heels of the (still-selling) Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, which was released in April of 2017. Yes, nearly four years ago. That's huge!

New headway in the charts includes Super Mario 3D All-Stars, which pushed 8.32 million units since it arrived, about as much as Ring Fit Adventure, which is now comfortably in the 8.68 million territory. If Ring Fit continues this momentum and pushes through to roughly 10 million sold, it could enter the coveted top 10 of all time list soon: imagine that level of success for what is ostensibly a peripheral game.

Another low key story? Nintendo is reporting that Pikmin 3 Deluxe has sold 1.94 million units. It's the little franchise that could! The publisher has already noted that it's proud of the sales thus far, and it brought back the doomed Wii U port from the clutches of failure. Pikmin is still very much alive and well.

Other interesting numbers include Mario Kart Live (1.08 million), and the continued desire of Pokemon Let's Go (billed as a pair, now at 13 million) and Splatoon 2 (now at 11.90 million) to grasp on to the top 10 all-time seller list.

Author
Chris Carter

Nippon Ichi Software Opens Teaser Website for Mysterious New Game

3 years 1 month ago

Nippon Ichi Software has opened a teaser website for an upcoming unannounced game. While the new website is fairly sparse, there is a video on the website that will give consumers enough material to speculate what might be in the works. Additionally, the teaser website is scheduled to change slightly every day. [Thanks, 4Gamer!] As mentioned previously, the website is fairly barren. There is currently no information regarding possible platforms or the genre of this mysterious new game by Nippon Ichi Software. What the video does disclose are small flashes of images. This includes a person wearing a suit and […]

The post Nippon Ichi Software Opens Teaser Website for Mysterious New Game appeared first on Siliconera.

Author
Kazuma Hashimoto

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Shenmue 1 & 2 Modders Remaking the Games... Twice

3 years 1 month ago
A team of fans is working on not one, but two versions of a Shenmue 1+2 remake mod, which will transfer the contents of Sega’s Shenmue 2018 rerelease into Unreal Engine 4 and add a variety of enhancements. Announced in a post on the Shenmue Dojo forums, the Shenmue Dragon and Phoenix Collection is an “engine replacement mod”, designed with the idea of bringing the gameplay of the 2018 Shenmue 1+2 release in line with the more modern Shenmue 3. It takes all the models, textures, animations, and gameplay from the 2018 rerelease and transfers them to Unreal Engine 4, the engine used for Shemue 3. This will allow for the addition of ray tracing and physically based rendering of materials for a more realistic look. The engine change has also allowed the team to stitch the whole game world together as a seamless map, rather than separate areas divided by loading screens. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/08/21/the-first-16-minutes-of-shenmue-remastered-gameplay"] Importantly, the team is producing two distinct versions of this Shenmue 1+2 mod; the Dragon Edition and the Phoenix Edition. The Dragon Edition is a “1:1 port” that is, as close as the team can make it, a straight engine replacement for the 2018 rerelease. Aside froim Unreal Engine 4 enhancements, this is planned to be the original games “warts and all''. The Phoenix Edition, on the other hand, is a “full UE4 reimagining of the games''. Like the Dragon Edition, it will be a full transfer of the game to Unreal Engine 4, but with new features designed to modernise the experience. The team has yet to finalise what those features are, but cite a new stamina system as one of the more major changes in mind, as well as smaller changes such as new cassettes in the Tomato Store. As with almost all modding projects, there is no release date set.
Author
Matt Purslow

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Nintendo Not Planning to Announce a New Switch Model 'Anytime Soon'

3 years 1 month ago
Nintendo has reportedly said that it isn't planning to announce a new model of Switch 'anytime soon'. In an investor Q&A following the announcement of Nintendo's latest earnings report, Bloomberg's Takashi Mochizuki reports that Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa was asked whether the company would announce an upgraded model of the Switch. His response: "Not anytime soon". That response has immediately led to discussion of whether it is or isn't a clue as to a future announcement. Previously, Nintendo has offered more concrete denials of a new model, and Furukawa's apparent phrasing here leaves the door more open to an announcement at a later date. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/01/21/is-a-switch-pro-coming-in-2021-nvc-544"] It's worth pointing out that David Gibson, a games business analyst in the same Q&A session, reported a slightly different answer to the same question, saying that there was "no new model plan" beyond the release of Mario and Monster Hunter special edition Switch models.
Author
Joe Skrebels

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Nintendo Switch Lite Is About To Outsell Wii U

3 years 1 month ago
As part of the company's latest earnings report, Nintendo has revealed that the Nintendo Switch Lite is about to outsell the Wii U. Since its launch in 2019, the smaller, dockless Nintendo Switch Lite has sold 13.53 million units. The figure can be seen in Nintendo's recently released Consolidated Financial Highlights document. Such volume of sales means the Switch Lite is very close to beating the Wii U's lifetime total unit sales, which are recorded as 13.56 million units on the Nintendo website. The Switch Lite will likely surpass that benchmark in the coming months, if it hasn't already. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/09/26/nintendo-switch-lite-review"] Surpassing Wii U sales is par for the course for the Switch now.
Author
Jordan Oloman

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Fallout: the Frontier returns with some content removed as contributors distance themselves from mod

3 years 1 month ago

Fallout: the Frontier is one of the biggest and most-anticipated Fallout: New Vegas mods ever made, yet since its release on 15th January, the mod has found itself at the centre of several controversies.

After some criticised the mod's writing for "fetishy" and inappropriate content, one of the developers was accused of posting "inappropriate content involving anthropomorphic minors," resulting in the mod's temporary removal from Nexus Mods. The mod is now back online, but not only has the expelled developer's work been removed, it seems a number of other contributors have also pulled their content.

According to a post from project lead tgspy, "multiple characters' worth of voice acting" has been removed from the mod after contributors "requested that they not be associated with the project going forward". Beyond this, some artists have asked for their content to be removed, while the music for the "breach outreach" radio station has also been removed at the request of the composer. So while the mod is once again downloadable, you may notice a few missing voice lines - something the team is apparently looking to replace in the near future.

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Skullgirls 2nd Encore dev teases unannounced DLC character

3 years 1 month ago

The developer of enduring fighting game Skullgirls 2nd Encore has teased an unannounced DLC character.

At the end of a video showcasing upcoming announced DLC character Annie of the Stars, we see a question mark alongside the line, "a new star enters the spotlight." The video is below:

Publisher Autumn Games and developer Hidden Variable said the Annie DLC will be released on Steam as an early access launch before all other platforms. This will afford the developers time to make tuning updates based on player data. Once Hidden Variable is happy, it will announce a release date for Annie's launch proper.

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Nintendo once again denies that new Switch hardware is coming soon

3 years 1 month ago

Is the Switch Pro out yet? No? Well, it's a normal day then.

As part of the festivities of the new Nintendo financial dumpBloomberg's Takashi Mochizuki reports that Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa proclaimed that there would be no announcement for new Switch hardware "anytime soon." Naturally, they also play around with Furukawa's statement a little bit. As they point out, last year Furukawa noted that there would not be a Switch Pro in 2020. Well, that happened! But now it's "not anytime soon." So maybe later in the year? Around E3 perhaps?

It's all wild speculation, and frankly, when it comes to the Pro, not an arena I want to enter fully (but I'll peek in from the outside). A lot of Switch Pro rumors have been some of the most worthless bits of info in years, but a select few, from mostly trusted sources, could have a tinge of truth to them.

Nintendo also reminds us that there's going to be a Mario edition console in February and a Monster Hunter version in March: sneakily avoiding the whole Pro debacle altogether.

Nintendo Smashes Expectations With Best Quarter Since 2008 [Bloomberg]

Nintendo once again denies that new Switch hardware is coming soon screenshot

Author
Chris Carter

Sega announces new show Sonic Prime, right after departure of the character's main voice actor

3 years 1 month ago

Today, Sega is vaguely teasing the next generation step for Sonic the Hedgehog's long TV career: Sonic Prime.

Sega is very mum on details at the moment, but right now, we do know that the series will involve a joint production between Sega and WildBrain, and will premiere in 2022 on Netflix. Right now the plan is for a 24-episode order, and the show is aimed at "kids, families, and long-time fans."

WildBrain Vancouver will handle the show, and Man of Action Entertainment, of Ben 10 fame, will take up the showrunning duties. A voice actor for Sonic has not been announced at this time; but many suspect that Ben Schwartz, who voiced the character in the feature film series (and is now free after the cancellation of the DuckTales reboot), is expected to tackle the role.

This comes directly following the departure of Roger Craig Smith, who announced that he would no longer be active in the Sonic franchise this past week. It seems like Sega was paving the way for someone else.

Sega announces new show Sonic Prime, right after departure of the character's main voice actor screenshot

Author
Chris Carter

The Switch Lite has nearly outsold the Wii U on its own

3 years 1 month ago

Oh Wii U. We'll probably never stop talking about it in some capacity. I mean, people still readily reference the Virtual Boy! Even Reggie talked about that amazing red-hued eye-burning system recently.

But to shift gears back to the Wii U, Nintendo's other financial failure (and only financially, because that system utterly ruled), it's been surpassed yet again by a sub-console. As per its new financials, Nintendo reports that the Switch Lite has pushed 13.53 million units by the end of December 31, 2020. That's roughly one sixth of all Switch hardware sales, which have hit 79.87 million in that same timeframe. Here is additional data.

One big thing to really nail home? The Switch Lite has nearly outside the lifetime figures of the Wii U. Nintendo still displays them on their site (which leaves off the Virtual Boy), and the number is forevermore at 13.56 million sold. The Lite probably already has beaten the Wii U, because data from January alone would likely push it over the edge: we just don't have it yet.

Coupling in the Lite, the Switch in general is still doing fantastic. With the new 79.87 million figure, it's encroaching the top-10 all-time best-selling system list. It just needs to crack the 80 million-ish sales of the PSP, then it's ready to take on the Game Boy Advance line next, which boasts 81.51 million.

IR Information: Sales Data [Nintendo]

The Switch Lite has nearly outsold the Wii U on its own screenshot

Author
Chris Carter

Tokyo store's attempt to sell PS5 stock ends in crowd chaos

3 years 1 month ago

Photo credit: @yamato_1234

It's been almost three months since the launch of Sony's brand new gaming platform, PlayStation 5, but as a hapless Japanese retailer found out this weekend, the customer drive to bag the next-gen hardware remains as hot today as it was back in November.

Police were called to Tokyo-based outlet Yodobashi Camera on Saturday after the store's efforts to sell a fresh batch of PS5 consoles descended into crowded chaos. Despite having implemented a ticketing system - in order to service several hundred individual customers in a noble effort to prevent scalping - the crowd became unmanageable once said tickets became available, pushing forward en masse and forcing staff into retreat.

Ultimately, police were called and Yodobashi Camera was forced to cancel the entire sale. A teeming mass of people surging in a single direction is dangerous at the best of times, but when you add the risks from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic to the mix, you have a very dangerous recipe for disaster. Pokemon designer Dave Gibson was on the scene, noting that he'd "never seen that kind of insanity" in Japan before.

Author
Chris Moyse

(Update) What is this strange Nippon Ichi Software site teasing?

3 years 1 month ago

[Update: NIS has added a second, equally bizarre video featuring a pair of plush-headed weirdos and what appears to be a stack of dead bodies. The plot thickens, though the iconography is business as usual for NIS and its catalogue of dark Japanese releases.]

Always fans of a good mystery, the scamps at Nippon Ichi Software (NIS) are at it again, with the appearance of a strange and creepy new website that is teasing a new title.

The site itself features several red hands clawing toward its central video embed. Playing the video results in some old-school fairground-style music, along with a stuttering image with what appears to be brief glimpses of a corridor of sorts. A warning about flashing images is accompanied by a button-eyed bear, who isn't supposed to be possessed at this hour. A matching Twitter account titled "Bokumetsu" was also launched, featuring silhouettes of a large cast of characters. Curious.

Given that NIS are key publishers of some Japan's most weird and eccentric titles, the video could be teasing an anime franchise sequel, a visual novel spin-off, or an entirely new IP. Either way, we'll be sure to let you know when NIS finally shows its hand.

Probably something to do with school kids and alternate dimensions and death, right?

(Update) What is this strange Nippon Ichi Software site teasing?  screenshot

Author
Chris Moyse

MLB The Show 21 Announced for Xbox and PlayStation

3 years 1 month ago
MLB The Show 21, the latest instalment of the PlayStation-exclusive baseball series from Sony first-party developer San Diego Studio, has been announced for both PlayStation and Xbox consoles. Launching on April 20, it will be available across both generations, with PS4/Xbox One versions retailing at $59.99 USD/£59.99 GBP and the next-gen versions at $69.99 USB/£69.99 GBP. The advent of a new platform for the game also means cross-platform play and cross progression has been introduced, meaning MLB The Show 21 players can carry progression between both PlayStation and Xbox platforms, as well as play multiplayer with all players on both console families. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/02/01/mlb-the-show-21-announcement-with-fernando-tatis-jr-trailer"] Further new features will be revealed as part of a series of six Feature Premiere streams, starting in March. Another reveal will be held on February 3, which will show off the Collector’s Edition of the game. While you’ll have to wait until then to find out what is inside the more premium edition, the PlayStation Blog does suggest that only the Collector’s Edition will feature a free next-gen upgrade. “There will be no standard edition upgrade path from current gen to next gen,” says the article from Ramone Russell, game designer at developer San Diego Studio. “If you are interested in having access to the game on both current and next gen platforms, please wait for more info about the collector’s edition.” MLB The Show 21 cover While the regular edition is the only one to be shown so far, the artwork does show off this year’s cover athlete: Fernando “El Nino” Tatis Jr.
Author
Matt Purslow

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10-15% of All US PS5s Estimated to Have Been Resold

3 years 1 month ago
10-15% of all PS5s sold in the US are estimated to have been resold, earning huge profit for scalpers, according to a new report. Data engineer Michael Driscoll posted the latest in a series of reports on the scalping market, this time focused on PS5. The report scraped data for thousands of listings on eBay and StockX, up until January 16. Among other things, Driscoll included only listings that had actually sold, excluded any listing using terms commonly included in scam listings, excluded listings from low feedback accounts, and removed all results that sold for less than the recommended retail price. Driscoll was left with a figure of 157,000 PS5s sold at retail price or higher on eBay and StockX – 7.06% of of the 2.067 million PS5s VGChartz estimates were sold in the US up until January 16. Driscoll then looked into active listings on services such as OfferUp, Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist, coming to the conclusion that a likely 10-15% of PS5s have been resold in the US. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/ps5-scalpers-used-a-loophole-to-buy-stock-before-it-was-live-in-the-uk-ign-news"] Driscoll's report makes for very interesting reading beyond the headline figures. On eBay and StockX, the most recent estimated average price for a digital edition PS5 is $799 (twice its recommended price), while a disc edition is $849 (1.7 times recommend price).
Author
Joe Skrebels

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