Id Software co-founder John Carmack has suggested a novel approach to combat the scourge of scalpers and resellers who are taking advantage of the global shortage of semiconductors: auctioning off new consoles and PC hardware. This would keep bots from being able to instantly purchase the consoles as soon as they go on sale. But it would also come with some of its own complications.

Supply of PS5 and Xbox Series X/S consoles have been unable to keep up with demand, while PC hardware such as Nvidia’s latest range of RTX graphics cards have also been snatched up by scalpers and resold for a price that includes a hefty mark-up. When the figures were last tallied up, it was estimated that resellers had made over $82 million in profit.