The quest for cut-price video games can lead to some less than savory corners of the internet, as Waypoint recently found out when it dove headfirst into the world of PSN account reselling.
After a victim of account reselling reached out to Waypoint, the site got in touch the the retailer responsible to find out how an active PSN account had been sold to a complete stranger — in this case, an eager Overwatch fan looking to get the game on the cheap.
The company in question, PSN Games, claimed it purchases digital copies of popular games “from distributors in cheaper regions” and ties them to accounts that can then be sold to players around the world.
As a business practice it’s a little unorthodox, and raises one glaring question: if PSN Games only ties games to accounts of its own making, why was someone else’s information up for sale?
“We are reselling accounts that we purchase from multiple different suppliers,” said a company rep. “Sometimes also from people that reach out to us directly offering to sell their profiles.”
Case closed. Well, not quite. In this instance the account wasn’t voluntarily sold to PSN Games. So the question still stands: just how did it end up on the marketplace? The retailer’s next answer was tepid at best.
“As much as we’d like to avoid those issues, with the large amount of sales it’s not possible to verify each individual account we sell, and those situations sometimes sadly happen,” continued the rep.
“If we do hear about it, we’re usually trying to resolve the situation with the person that sold the specific profile to us.”
After doing some more digging, Waypoint came to its own conclusions, and splayed open the world of account reselling in the process. The full article is a compelling read, and features interviews with those affected as well as those who continue to use resellers. You can check it out right here.