Merchant selling Ni no Kuni 'Wizard's Edition' for four times the original price as Namco cancels customer pre-orders

eBay shop PlayCanada received more than 200 copies of the "Wizard's Edition" of Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch directly from Namco Bandai's online store and is now selling them for four times their original price, at $400 each.

PlayCanada initially priced this edition of the game at $199 in early December before increasing the price to $249 in late December and again to $399 on Jan. 24 — the same date that Namco announced it was unable to fulfill player pre-orders of the game due to an over-selling of stock. The publisher stated customers who pre-ordered the game from Club Namco after Jan. 17 when inventory become exhausted will not receive a copy of the edition.

So far the eBay shop sold 209 copies of this title. According to the item's eBay page, which promises to ship the "very, very rare edition" a week following its Jan. 23 launch on PlayStation 3, more than 10 copies of the title are still available.

According to an earlier explanation from the publisher, the distributor of the game's "Wizard's Edition," Digital River, suffered a glitch in its ordering system causing the game to become unintentionally oversold; a fact that the eBay seller appears to be profiting from.

Polygon has contacted both publisher Namco Bandai and the eBay seller for comment. We will update the story when further information is made available.

Ni no Kuni received a 6.5 out of 10 from Polygon, in a review that states: "The flashy look and cheerful tone will pull some people through, but at its core, Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch is missing a chunk of its heart that's hard to ignore."

(Thanks, Daniel!)