Some people will do absolutely anything for a gaming gadget, even if it’s completely useless.

At one toy store, customers went full ninja mode on demo X-Box controllers, cutting wires like secret agents.

But what they didn’t know was that their grand prize wasn’t something worth stealing at all.

Read on for the full story.

To steal something worthless

I used to work at a very famous toy store, and we always had an X-Box One demo set up in the video game section.

The employee knows this is pretty much completely useless.

Keep in mind, a demo is NOT a real console. It is a small computer with some sample software installed on it, covered in a plastic shell to LOOK like the console.

The controllers likewise were also not real.

They were directly wired into the demo unit with thick gauge spring wires—think the spirally wire that old phones used before they went wireless, but much thicker.

The controllers had nowhere to put a battery, had no wireless transmitters, and even IF you could dismantle the display enough to get their wires out of the unit properly, they weren’t compatible with any ports on an actual console.

But not all customers felt the same.

This did not stop people from stealing them by CUTTING through the wires within a few days of them being set up at most.

Remember, cutting those wires means the controller will never work again, and wouldn’t have been compatible with a real console anyway.

You wouldn’t even be able to sell them because anyone who works at a game store would instantly notice the stump of the wire sticking out the top of the controller, and the lack of a battery slot would be pretty obvious too.

The employee couldn’t believe the lengths some customers would go to.

Basically, thieves would go through the effort of bringing wire cutters into a toy store and going through the effort of discreetly vandalizing a game demo for the reward of having a paperweight shaped like an X-Box One controller.

Looks like these thieves didn’t exactly think their plan through.

Redditors are sure to get a kick out of this one.

There’s nothing like a desperate customer.

Maybe these set ups are more valuable than employees think.

Ultimately, the thieves got nothing but a useless, broken controller.

The retail worker could only laugh at how far some people would go for something meaningless.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a rude customer who got exactly what they wanted in their pizza.