DA
07-15-2009, 04:38 PM
An internal memo from Canadian retail chain Zellers appears to reveal that they may no longer be restocking their supply of 80GB PlayStation 3's. That may not sound like much of a story, but here's the interesting part -- back in June, a rumor floated that Sony was planning to begin reducing supplies of the 80GB model in anticipation of a price drop, and even the launch of the long-rumored "PS3 Slim."
The memo itself (which was passed along anonymously to Joystiq) is an edict to employees to stop accepting rainchecks for a special offer on an 80GB PS3 with a game less than $30, with the whole package costing $380. But the interesting part is why the rainchecks are no longer being accepted: "We can not accept the rainchecks because we can not promise we could fill them with the same item," the memo reads. Or in other words, it looks like they'll no longer have 80GB PS3's to fill them with.
According to the earlier rumor (passed along by a historically reliable "mole" to ArsTechnica), Sony is planning to restrict supplies of 80GB PS3s in the next few months, leaving only the 160GB model on store shelves, with the intention of selling through those as well. Then, near the end of the year, they'll supposedly introduce the "PS3 Slim" at a lower price. So, yes, if Zellers is indeed no longer restocking 80GB PS3s already, that would seem to fall in line with Sony's rumored plans.
But every bit of this is so far unconfirmed, so don't take any of it as fact yet. It'll be interesting to see, though, whether any other retailers in the next couple of weeks and months find their supplies of 80GB PS3s mysteriously constrained as well.
The memo itself (which was passed along anonymously to Joystiq) is an edict to employees to stop accepting rainchecks for a special offer on an 80GB PS3 with a game less than $30, with the whole package costing $380. But the interesting part is why the rainchecks are no longer being accepted: "We can not accept the rainchecks because we can not promise we could fill them with the same item," the memo reads. Or in other words, it looks like they'll no longer have 80GB PS3's to fill them with.
According to the earlier rumor (passed along by a historically reliable "mole" to ArsTechnica), Sony is planning to restrict supplies of 80GB PS3s in the next few months, leaving only the 160GB model on store shelves, with the intention of selling through those as well. Then, near the end of the year, they'll supposedly introduce the "PS3 Slim" at a lower price. So, yes, if Zellers is indeed no longer restocking 80GB PS3s already, that would seem to fall in line with Sony's rumored plans.
But every bit of this is so far unconfirmed, so don't take any of it as fact yet. It'll be interesting to see, though, whether any other retailers in the next couple of weeks and months find their supplies of 80GB PS3s mysteriously constrained as well.