Scalpers Unhappy with Capcom

An odd departure from typical game fare came in the form of a courtroom simulation game. The title was called “Phoenix Wright-Ace Attorney” for Nintendo,s handheld DS game console. The game, published by Capcom, received good reviews, but for some reason, Capcom did not replenish supplies of the game to retailers. The game finally sold out in many retail stores and subsequently became a very hard item to find. The shortage gave some individuals the opportunity to exercise their entrepreneurial spirit by scalping the suddenly rare title. Copies of the game selling for close to $90 were seen on eBay. Not a bad profit, when you consider that the original MSRP was only $29.99. You gotta love those scalpers. But this situation has changed dramatically, as Capcom has put out the word that they will restock the game after all. Whether the shortage of the game was an oversight or mistake, only Capcom knows for sure. But one thing is certain; the scalpers aren,t happy, and neither are the buyers who purchased their copies for three times the going price. With the recent spectacles of Nintendo DS scalping, most notably, the DS Lite and Nintendogs Friends DS edition, many who wanted to purchase the scarce items were, for all intents and purposes, taken advantage of by the scalpers. In the case of Capcom, they stepped in to equalize the supply and demand equation. Hopefully, this action will be noticed by other game companies and manufacturers. Instead of making limited editions of game consoles or games, if enough copies are made to satisfy demand, they stand to make more directly from customers, rather than the customer being at the mercy of the scalpers and their inflated price structure. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney has a rating of “T” for teen and can be purchased at the more reasonable price of $29.99.