Last weekend, during the PlayStation Experience event, Sony released a limited edition 20th anniversary PlayStation 4 console. For this special release, Sony opted for a more sleek grey finish to commemorate the original design, instead of its traditional black exterior. The console garnered much attention from fans and even prompted high bidding wars on eBay.
A Sony pop-up shop in London sold the anniversary console for £19.94, roughly $32 USD, to their first 94 customers. Some of these consoles made their way onto eBay selling for thousands of dollars. This sparked the attention of Sony UK executive, Fergal Gara, who spoke exclusively to Eurogamer.
“That’s not what we want to see happen. It’s inevitable some proportion of that will happen and very hard to prevent it completely. We did think things through. But in each and every case, the way you get hold of one of these consoles requires some fan knowledge, so we’re trying to tap into the people who love the brand the most, and put them at an advantage, because they’re the people who keep us in business, who inspire this whole 20 year legacy.”
“You can’t completely remove it, but that certainly isn’t the intention of the exercise at all. It’s to honour the fans and having it at such a low price to the dedicated here, it’s all but free, but a nice little touch in terms of remembering the launch year.”
The console sold out almost immediately when it was released here in the US, but if you have the time and money try checking out eBay. UK fans still have the opportunity to buy the 20th anniversary console starting Monday, December 15th.