Ask anyone and they’ll tell you that Resident Evil Requiem is one of Capcom’s biggest releases in quite some time. It’s easily the biggest Resident Evil game we’ve had in years, and in our full Resident Evil Requiem review, we talked about why this entry feels like one of the strongest the series has delivered in years, which only makes the current situation more frustrating for fans who want a physical copy.
And yet, despite all the hype and goodwill surrounding it, it’s been incredibly hard for many people to find a physical copies of the game. I’ve even seen some speculate that this is some grand plan to push gamers further toward digital purchases. Maybe there’s some truth to that, but there’s something else at work here, and it’s a problem we’ve seen far too many times before.
Scalpers are once again making things miserable for anyone who still prefers buying physical games, especially the deluxe version. Resident Evil Requiem didn’t receive a full Collector’s Edition, but the Deluxe Edition does include a slick-looking steelbook case, and that alone has made it a prime target. It doesn’t take much for resellers to spot an opportunity, and this release was clearly one of them.
If you take a look at eBay, the situation becomes obvious pretty quickly. There are well over 150 listings for the Resident Evil Requiem Deluxe Edition right now, and that number doesn’t even include the copies that have already sold. What makes it worse is that several sellers are listing multiple copies, which suggests this wasn’t just a case of someone buying an extra by accident.
And they’re not asking for a modest markup either. The Deluxe Edition carries an MSRP of $89.99, yet many of these listings are sitting at $160 or higher. That’s nearly double the retail price, and in some cases even more depending on shipping and demand.
As of right now, no major online or local retailer has copies available, with Best Buy, Amazon, Walmart, Target, Costco, and GameStop all completely sold out. Whether Capcom plans to reprint the Deluxe Edition is anyone’s guess. It could have been a limited production run, or more units could be on the way, but at the moment, if you’ve been hunting for a physical Deluxe copy and coming up empty, this is likely the reason why.
I’m not going to tell anyone how to spend their money, because that decision is ultimately yours. Personally, though, I wouldn’t pay the inflated price. The more people give in and reward this behavior, the more it becomes the norm, and we’ve already seen how that plays out across consoles, graphics cards, and now even standard game releases.
Maybe you’ll get lucky and find a copy in the wild somewhere, and if that happens, I genuinely hope you grab it at retail price instead of lining someone else’s pockets.
