Baldur's Gate 3's publishing director lets out a sigh of relief as scalpers ruin the game for everyone. 'All you are doing is making someone unhappy'

Baldur's Gate 3 comes in a collector's version that's snazzy. Good luck finding it. Robert Jones, PC Gamer's Robert Jones, noticed last month that resale values (usually set by'scalpers) have exceeded $2,000 - which is more expensive than a decent gaming rig.

Unfortunately, this is not a rare event. Scalpers, who hoard limited stock in order to sell it later as a side gig, are a blight on any hobby that allows you to buy things. Impatient scalpers gatecrashed a wholesome event held at the Van Gogh Museum in September last year because the museum offered children a special Pikachu Card for completing a quiz.

Michael Douse, director of publishing at Larian Studio, was also upset by this issue. He took to Twitter to express his frustration (thanks Eurogamer).

"Hate scalpers, man. I understand commodity work, but this [Collector's Edition] wasn't designed to make someone rich, it was made to make someone happy," Douse writes. "If you're purchasing it to trade it, you're only making someone sad."

As with the Van Gogh incident, I am not convinced that scalpers are using ethical and resourceful considerations when they play the slot machine in order to win big. They even sold Concord (a game that no longer exists) on eBay because it was a rare item. Human beings are insatiable for rare things.

The actual value of something, its use as a product, doesn't matter at all. Scalpers will buy things that have a certain value, like concert tickets and PC hardware. They did this during the chip shortage. The 'demand' part of supply and demand can be a complete fabrication. Synthetic diamonds are almost identical to mined diamonds, and lobsters were once prison food.

Cynically, it's a bit of a Catch-22 for Douse and Larian, who, in general, have been receptive to the idea of playing capitalism too hard. Collector's Editions are a strange concept. They're supposed to make people happy. But the idea of scarcity comes with the package. By design, they are expensive and time-consuming, and their stock will be low. In a system that allows resales, this is inevitable.