Best Buy to stop carrying Sony's 20GB PlayStation 3?

You may have noticed that nearly four months after both the Wii and PlayStation 3 hit the market, Nintendo's console is generally still more difficult to locate than Sony's counterpart -- especially the widely unwanted 20GB flavor. While rumors galore have been floating around, it looks like one of the largest PS3 retailers are pulling the plug on the (so to speak) cheapo version, leaving Best Buy consumers with exactly two options, either cough up the $600 required to cop the 60GB edition, or look elsewhere for their gaming satisfaction. According to Joystiq, they have checked with numerous Best Buy locales and have confirmed the "Discontinued" status that was recently printed out from a BB computer system, which means that the flow of 20GB units into Best Buy stores should all but stop here in the very near future. No word on whether the creators of the 20GB PS3 sauce will be drying up their production as well, however.

[kingofwale @ Mar 18th 2007 5:35PM]

makes no sense for them to not carry the 20GB version, somebody wouldn't mind saving 100 bucks even if it means not having WiFi and memory stick reader built-in.

[myscrnnm @ Mar 18th 2007 5:46PM]

It makes quite a bit of sense for Best Buy to stop carrying the 20GB model - if the statistics tell them to do it. Basically, if there is simply not enough demand at the retailer for that particular product, why would they want to carry it? They'd be losing money. While I don't know what the stats are for 20GB PlayStation 3 sales at Best Buy, there are rational reasons for ceasing the sale of them.

[FrankTheCrank @ Mar 18th 2007 5:47PM]

Oh my god!! The sky is falling!!

No 20GB PS3? What will we do? Oh my....

Wahhhhhhhh.....

[Dan @ Mar 18th 2007 5:50PM]

Nice job that someone printed out the inventory information from Best Buy and put it online. Probably not the best idea to be printing out company info and distributing it online. Oh, who am I to care, it's not my job that will be lost.

Anyway, I can't remember ever seeing the 20 gig version at Best Bu in quite awhiley. I think I may have seen ti available at launch, but since then ,the only version available has always been the 60gig version. Personally, I won't miss it, no one ever asks for it that I know of.

[Ryan @ Mar 18th 2007 6:01PM]

Interesting. I'm that big into Playstation.

[AndrewNeo @ Mar 18th 2007 5:54PM]

Hopefully with they money they'll be saving from not having to buy the PS3's they won't sell, they can buy more Wiis.

[MegaMan @ Mar 18th 2007 5:59PM]

I always thought the 20GB version was a better deal.

If you hunt around, a wireless bridge can be had for less than $40. The media slots are great if you can't handle moving data to a thumb drive, which works perfectly fine. Lastly, 20GB is a good start and 60GB is great....but I'd rather get the 20GB box then upgrade to a 120GB or 160GB drive.

Plus a Bluray player for $499 is a pretty sweet deal, if you care about that stuff.

[HellaWeave @ Mar 18th 2007 6:11PM]

Go play Far Cry for the Wii and you will witness the future of 3D gameplay on the Wii. Just horrible. I tried playing Call of Duty 3, and I just couldn't see the far off targets thanks to the low 480P resolution. Though, Raving Rabids is probably one of my favorite games. That Wario Smooth Moves is HORRIBLE. I've got to give Nintendo props for ziggin when everyone else was zagging. Nice move. It was a risk that could have been disastrous.

Just proves that PRICING IS EVERYTHING. If Sony had launched a $199 or even a $299 PS3, Xmas 2006 would have been a totally different story. Somehow though, I think Sony intended their system to cost what it costs. Two tiers, PS2 on the low end and PS3 on the high end. Combined sales of both PS2 and PS3 were something like 450K units in Feb. Developers would be stupid to walk away from the PS2 with an installed base of over 110 million.

[kamokazi @ Mar 18th 2007 8:02PM]

Find me any place where:

a) The Wii claims to have cutting-edge 3D graphics
b) Anyone purchased it expecting it to have cutting-edge 3D graphics

The people who buy the Wii don't care about graphics (much).

Price is part of it, but mainly the Wii is hitting a broader market. It's picking up some people who never played games. My stepmother actually commented on how it looks neat and she might like to try it. I've never even seen her even play solitaire on her PC. And like the other Nintendo consoles, it's also a kiddie console. But its unique controller has also intrigued much of the older console market as well, and they are also picking them up where they might have otherwise stuck with Xbox/PS.

It's also got a lot of PC diehards interested, since it does something their PC's can't. I'll take your crappy 1080p PS3 graphics and up them with Oblivion (and soon Crysis) at 1920x1200 on my 24" monitor. (Yes, a PC that can run that is much more expensive than a PS3 but that's not the point I'm trying to make here.) But I can't plug a Wiimote into my PC and have a plethora of games support it in different ways. I already know two of my friends who were diehard PC that have picked them up and still play them almost daily. It's nice when you're channel surfing your TV and nothing good is on and you don't feel like going over to your PC and firing up BF2, Supreme Commander, or WoW.

So combine the price with the boader market and you have the reason the Wii was so successful. Had the PS3 also been $250 and assuming both had unlimited supply, I still believe the Wii would have sold more because of the broader market it appeals to. Your logic seems to rest on people only buying one platform, period. If forced to choose one, I could potentially see the PS3 having a larger share. But people can have a $5000 gaming rig, a 360, a Wii and a PS3 if they really want to. What I see happening is a lot of people having a Wii along with another primary gaming platform.

[Matt @ Mar 18th 2007 8:47PM]

The major distributors in North America have already notified their accounts that Sony has officially discontinued the PS3 20gb. This is not just a Best Buy thing.

[walk2k @ Mar 18th 2007 6:50PM]

Interesting but it's not like some idiot Salesdroid at BB couldn't have punched in the wrong button on the "comp-u-tator watchamachine" .... those fellows aren't exactly rocket surgeons now are they?

[John Doe @ Mar 18th 2007 7:39PM]

Moron. Do you have any idea how most inventory systems work? enter the SKU and look at its status. This information is probably being updated from corporate, and if they fucked this up there would be hell to pay.

[chase m. @ Mar 18th 2007 7:31PM]

I work at a BestBuy in Texas, and I have never seen a 20GB ps3 in the store. All we've ever had was the 60's.

[Blue Sam @ Mar 18th 2007 7:21PM]

Recently, I went to Best Buy and realize there is no 20GB PS3 in stock. It may make sense.

[Mike @ Mar 18th 2007 8:29PM]

I almost never see the 20's. I wonder if people are skipping the other Blu-ray players in favor of the $499 model.

Then again, I almost never see Xbox360 core systems either. I think people are wise to the fact that upgrading the core system is silly and opt for the premium systems from the outset.

I also wonder if an embargo on the 20gig PS3's will force Sony to drop the price on the 60gig unit a little sooner.

[priesteria @ Mar 18th 2007 8:04PM]

bestbuy.com has PS3 20 gb version and it says "New" as of 3/18/07 8:00pm est.

[Sean DL @ Mar 18th 2007 9:06PM]

Maybe they are doing what Target did with the Apple HiFi speakers, stop selling then in-store and just sell them online...

[Kamalot @ Mar 19th 2007 10:27AM]

You can't buy the 20 gig models from Sony's store.

http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY_BrowseCatalog-Start?CategoryName=games_systems&Dept=moviesmusic

IF you can find it, (hidden well for a supposedly HOT item) you can't even add it to your cart. You can add the 60 gig model just fine, but the 20 gig always craps out.

Sony loses MORE money on every 20 gig sold. There has never been a second shipment of 20 gigs. They were only available at launch.

The 20 gig model was a shell-game. A one-time deal to get a published price point that is $100 below the actual price. A deceitful sham of a product, already extinct like a Dodo.

[Mike @ Mar 18th 2007 8:29PM]

As with Chase's comment, I work at a Best Buy, and it's the same deal. We've never had many (if any) PS3 20GB's, nor have I ever heard anybody asking for one.

The glass is either (1) half-empty or (2) half-full: they won't be carrying 20GB models either because (1) they want to screw you out of an extra hundred dollars or because (2) there simply doesn't seem to be a demand for it. The case for the former doesn't seem likely since Sony is losing slightly more money on the 60GB than the 20GB, and the case for the latter seems more likely because in all my years in retail if nobody wants to buy a particular item, stores are not afraid to drop it.

I've also heard world-wide rumors that Sony may be thinking about dropping the 20GB SKU altogether. Besides, laptop hard drives aren't cheap- the $100 difference between 20 and 60GB drives is a much cheaper than buying a 20GB PS3 then buying a bigger laptop drive to replace it (unless you're willing to spend a great deal more to get a 120GB+ laptop hard drive). Some of the stuff you can put on the PS3 (music, videos, demos, trailers, games) is quite large- it's not too difficult to fill up a 20GB hard drive- I don't know how Xbox 360 users do it.

[John Branca @ Mar 19th 2007 12:05PM]

They won't be carrying 20 GB because Sony loses more on the 20 GB than the 60 GB. Only reason.

[Peter @ Mar 18th 2007 9:10PM]

Yes. The originator has it backwards. I have never seen 20GB unit. In Canada it is the unit most people want because the thing is already overpriced enough.

It has nothing to do with demand and everything to do with profit margin. Best Buy probably make next to nothing on the 20GB model. The make a few bucks with the 60GB.

This move is not going to help Sony because for the most part people are price sensitive.

[Galley @ Mar 18th 2007 11:13PM]

I guess they put the 20 giggers on the "short bus" where they belong.

[David @ Mar 19th 2007 12:16AM]

I work for best buy. Status being "discontinued" doesn't mean they won't be carrying it. Often new CDs or DVDs are like that.

Also it very well mean that Sony is sending it with a new UPC or packaging. Any change in UPC requires a new sku and the old one to become "discontinued".

Either way who wants the 20 gig one???

[Tommy @ Mar 19th 2007 8:08AM]

Maybe we Europeans can have some 20 gig versions now?

http://tommyvd.wordpress.com/

[Kirt @ Mar 19th 2007 11:53PM]

circuit city discontinued the ps3 20gb a couple of months ago, we only carry the 60gb now

[Rick Lyon @ Mar 19th 2007 9:45AM]

They probably don't make but $10 a unit sold so why not drop it? They want to make money and these things aren't selling at least they can stock the ones with the highest profit margin. No a good sign for Sony when stores start selecting models to carry.

The 20gb is the better buy by far. THe Wi Fi sucks, connection is slower than hell, not everyone has a PSP, and a 160gb HHD can be had for less then the $100 difference. Get the 20gb and visit newegg.com or tigerdirect for the HD upgrade and use ethernet.

[Erwos @ Mar 19th 2007 10:20AM]

I'm looking for the "wireless, card reader, no hard drive" model for $500. I can take care of the hard drive myself, and for a cheaper price.

[Jamar @ Mar 19th 2007 10:46AM]

Zero PS3s available on hand? Gee, doesn't sound like any store I know of in the States.

[Pingmeister @ Mar 19th 2007 11:09AM]

Anyone notice that teh word DISCONTINUED on that piece of paper does not lien up with the other text?

For instance, on that same line the numbers in the first column seem to line up fine.

I don't doubt for a second that this story is plausible, but that sure looks Photoshopped.

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