GameStop Gives Pro Members Priority Access To PS5 And Xbox Series X, Online Firestorm Ensues

GameStop, however, is looking to take advantage of this incredible demand for the consoles and leverage the desperateness of some gamers to obtain one. This week, the company announced that its PowerUp Rewards Pro members would receive priority access to Xbox Series S/X and PlayStation 5.

While the standard PowerUp Rewards program is free for anyone to join, the "Pro" tier costs $14.99/year. PowerUp Rewards members began receiving emails this week of the change to the program details, which is limited to "early online access" and does not extend to brick-and-mortar locations. Other perks of the Pro membership include a 10,000-point signup bonus and double the points when you trade-in products.

Not everyone is thrilled about GameStop's presumed cash grab to entice gamers to pay an extra $14.99 per year. And even if gamers do spend the extra money, there's no guarantee that they'd be able to obtain one even if they dotted every "i" and crossed every "t" when console drops occur.

"They're going to have god knows how many people sign up to be pro members and less than 10 PS5s on hand," wrote @TheKBGuy on Twitter. "This is probably the best (worst) idea they've had in a while," added AJaypiPlus3. Twitter users were, for the most part, unimpressed with GameStop's tactics, with @MOESKIDS adding, "Damn good ass marketing technique on their part about to make hella money on signups lol."

Finally, @benjamingregson summed up the feelings of the majority, quipping, "GameStop offering early access to something that released 7 months ago feels very on-brand."

For those people that don't want to pay to play with GameStop, Sony's next big PlayStation 5 restock event is happening today at 3 pm EST this afternoon. You won't have to pay an additional fee to Sony to join in the queue to obtain a PlayStation 5 or PlayStation 5 Digital Edition, but you will need an active Sony Direct account.