This is how scalpers make money with the Collector’s Edition of Baldur’s Gate 3.
That’s why we can’t have cool stuff. Scalpers. They are always there where time-exclusive or limited edition fan items and other things with collector value are sold. Their mission is to buy as many of these products as possible at the manufacturer’s price and then, when the goods are out of stock, to resell them at a multiple of the original price.
That’s exactly what’s happening with her right now newly released Collector’s Edition of Baldur’s Gate 3which is likely to get on the nerves of fans and the Publishing Director of Larian Studios couldn’t help but make a disappointed comment.
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Baldur’s Gate 3 is now a year old and the developers want to thank you
»The Collector’s Edition is not intended to make anyone rich«
Until recently, you could get the Collector’s Edition of Baldur’s Gate 3 for one affordable price of 260 dollars pre-order. However, no further copies can now be purchased officially.
Scalpers have already taken advantage of this fact and published incredibly bold offers on sales pages for private individuals. The coveted edition can be purchased on Ebay, for example Purchase for 2,500 dollars, almost 10 times the original price.
The Collector’s Edition, which actually costs 260 dollars, is being sold on eBay for 10 times as much.
For fans who had little luck pre-ordering or were simply late, this is a slap in the face. People who can’t do anything with the collectibles themselves benefit by selling them on at a high price.
But it’s not just fans who feel ripped off by this practice, Larian himself doesn’t have good words for it either. Publishing Director Michael Douse comments on this on Twitter/X:
Link to Twitter content
I hate scalpers, man. I understand how supply and demand works, but this Collector’s Edition is not a commodity – it’s intended to make someone happy, not rich. If you buy them to resell them, you’re just making someone else sad.
In addition to the game itself, the Collector’s Edition also includes a 25-centimeter figure depicting a battle between mind flayers and Drow, a 160-page hardcover art book, a fabric map of Faerûn and much more. So it is a treasure trove for collectors and D&D fans, which scalpers exploit with their methods to profit.
But it’s not just private individuals who benefit from players’ willingness to spend more money to get exclusive access to fan articles and games. In recent months, publishers have also had a taste for offering early access to new titles for an additional charge. You can read above how this works with the new Life is Strange.
