The collector’s edition of Baldur’s Gate 3 is being sold at exorbitant prices by scalpers – the developers don’t think that’s cool.
That’s why we can’t have cool stuff. Scalpers. They’re always there where time-exclusive or limited fan items and other things with collector’s 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 print, to resell them at a multiple of the original price.
This is exactly what is happening with the newly released Collector’s Edition of Baldur’s Gate 3, which is likely to get on the nerves of fans and the publishing director of Larian Studios couldn’t help but make a disappointed comment.
“The Collector’s Edition is not there to make anyone rich”
Until recently, the Collector’s Edition of Baldur’s Gate 3 was available for anaffordable price of 260 euros However, no further copies are now available through official channels.
The scalpers have already taken advantage of this and published incredibly brazen offers on sales pages for private individuals. On Ebay, for example, the coveted edition can be purchased for 2,500 euros, almost ten times the original price
For fans who had little luck pre-ordering or were simply too late, this is a slap in the face. People who can’t do anything with the collectibles themselves benefit from the fact that they can resell them at a high price.
But it’s not just fans who feel cheated by this practice; Larian itself has no good words for it either. On Twitter/X, Publishing Director Michael Douse comments on this:
Hate scalpers, man. I understand how commodity works, but this CE isn’t a commodity it’s designed to make someone happy, not rich. If you’re buying it to trade, all you’re doing is making someone sad. pic.twitter.com/vtH2CX3OhQ
— Very AFK (@Cromwelp) October 12, 2024
I hate scalpers, man. I understand supply and demand, but this Collector’s Edition isn’t a tradable good—it’s meant to make someone happy, not rich. If you buy it to resell, you’re just making someone else sad.
Incidentally, with the Collector’s Edition, you get a 25-centimeter figure depicting a battle between a Mindflayer and a Drow, a 160-page hardcover art book, a cloth map of Faerûn, and much more, in addition to the game itself. It is therefore 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 are taking advantage of players’ willingness to spend more money on exclusive access to fan items and games. Publishers have also been getting a taste of this for a few months, offering early access to new titles for an extra charge.
