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News hardware & software 22 February 2021, 13:58

author: Lukasz Stefaniak

John Carmack: PS5 and Xbox Series X Should be Auctioned Off by Manufacturers

Legendary game developer John Carmack has spoken out on the low availability of GPU, as well as PS5 and Xbox Series X consoles. He proposes a controversial solution to curb the activities of scalpers.

IN A NUTSHELL:
  • John Carmack spoke on the low availability of GPUs and next-gen consoles.
  • The creator of Doom suggests that manufacturers should put their products up for auction themselves.

In a post published on Twitter, John Carmack suggests that manufacturers of GPUs and next-gen consoles put them up for auction themselves. This would ensure much greater transparency of transactions and would hit scalpers.

Carmack's statement notes that such a move would perhaps lead to customer outrage, as the prices reached by consoles and GPUs would be much higher than suggested. Ultimately, however, it would benefit consumers by eliminating the middlemen. Currently, the whole process is not very transparent and the people who offer the products for sale are mostly unverified.

Console and GPU manufacturers have trouble with providing sufficient supplies of their products for some time now. As a result, customers who wish to purchase them are forced to bid on them on auction websites or wait a long time for their orders to be processed. Insufficient supply of new graphics cards raises their prices in a way never seen before. Suffice it to mention the latest Nvidia GPU - RTX 3060, which is still awaiting release and its price in some cases has already exceeded the double of the MSRP. As for next-gen consoles, we recently reported on the activities of scalpers.

Carmack's proposal that manufacturers should sell their products themselves at auctions may raise doubts. It would definitely not lead to lower prices, but it could curb the activity of scalpers. It wouldn't make much difference to consumers in terms of the availability and expense thye have to bear on GPUs and new consoles. It would just ensure that extra profits went to hardware manufacturers instead of scalpers.

John Carmack is a legendary game developer and co-founder of id Software. He is responsible for the creation of many iconic games, including such items as Wolfenstein 3D, Doom and Quake. In recent years, he was mainly involved in the development of the Oculus Rift VR set.

  1. Scalpers Sold 50 Thousand GeForce RTX 3000 Cards for $61.5 Million
  2. PS5 and Xbox Series X/S Became a Gold Mine for Scalpers
  3. Nvidia - official website
  4. PS5 - official website
  5. Xbox Series X - official website