£150 to pre-order PS3!

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[PS3] Sony wants big money upfront to help genuine buyers

Friday 21 July 2006
UK gamers may have to pay as much as £150 just to pre-order a PlayStation 3 as Sony is planning a new allocation scheme for its 18 November console launch.

The controversial step is designed to make the PS3 launch allocation process fairer and to prevent people from buying more than one console, then reselling them for a profit. Sony is also thinking about introducing a policy that limits buyers to just one pre-order per household, according to games industry publication MCV.

Sony is keen to avoid what happened with the Xbox 360 launch when many consumers managed to get hold of several consoles and sell them on eBay to the highest bidder. Sony believes that the substantial deposit needed to pre-order will discourage those after a quick profit and ensure the limited PS3 stock at launch will go to gamers who really want a console.

Many retailers back the move by Sony, as they believe a higher number of genuine PS3 console sales at launch will result in higher software sales.