Scalpers are selling codes for Tekken 8's upcoming Closed Network Test for up to £40, which will be more than half the price of the full game when it launches.
Starting tomorrow, Tekken 8's Closed Network Test (yes, the one that sounds like that bad word) goes live until July 24, giving players lucky enough to receive a code the chance to try out the game's online modes for a limited amount of time. Codes have seemingly been limited, as evidenced by this three-page ResetEra thread of fans asking for codes, but that hasn't stopped some people from trying to make a quick buck.
As highlighted by Redditor Fabers_Chin on the Tekken subreddit, codes for the Closed Network Test have been spotted being sold on eBay for prices ranging anywhere between £13.99 and £35, which would be more than half of the price of the full game when it eventually launches. Compared to what some closed network tests and beta codes can sell for, the prices aren't too bad in the grand scheme of things, but it's worth remembering that these codes were given out for free and shouldn't be making anyone any profit.
It's bad enough that these codes are seemingly being sold on but, as pointed out by Fabers_Chin's post on the subreddit, some sellers seem to have gotten access to a whole bunch of codes. In the eBay listing that was shared, it mentions that 167 codes have been sold by that one eBay user, which would mean that, at $15 a pop, they've made more than two grand from scalping so many codes. Some people are really taking the CNT thing to heart, huh?
It seems that one of the main issues here is that the Closed Network Test signup was just a single page that asked you to put in an email, not requiring you to link an account, verify an address, or anything that might put off scalpers trying to get their hand on a bunch of codes. Really, it was simply made far too easy for this sort of thing to happen.
Although it's a pain to see some gamers trying to make money off of Tekken fans who just want to try out the new game for themselves, this is far from the worst that it's ever been, even in recent memory. Mortal Kombat 1 recently had an online stress test that lasted a few days over the weekend, and codes for that were up for sale for an average of around $100 - $200 and occasionally up to $1,000. There's no indication that one was ever sold, but at least the ones for Tekken are considerably lower.