Sony to Stop Selling 20gb Playstation 3 in the U.S

Sony Computer Entertainment America announced Wednesday that they've officially killed the Playstation 3 20GB SKU.

Sony says that they will no longer offer the less expensive, Wi-Fi-less version of the PS3 in North America.

The news comes just as Microsoft is about to launch a new Xbox 360 SKU, an interesting development considering Sony is removing the lower cost version of its next-gen console from the market.

Sony says that there is currently a 10 to 1 retailer demand for the 60gb version compared to the 20gb version, and that this has caused them to do away with the lower cost version of the PS3.

The good news for owners of the 20gb version of the PS3 is that sony said those owners will continue to receive the same customer service support they were guaranteed when the bought their machine. The architecture between the 20gb and 60gb SKUs are the same except for a few differences in features.

This means that the demise of the 20gb model will have a minimal effect from a customer relations and development standpoint. This is in contrast with Microsoft, who cannot drop their support of their Core SKU due to it not having a built-in hard drive.

"At launch, we offered two separate models of PLAYSTATION 3 to meet the diverse needs and interests of our PlayStation fan base. Initial retail demand in North America was upwards of ninety percent in favor of the 60GB sku, so we manufactured and shipped-in accordingly. Due to the overwhelming demand for the 60GB model from both retailers and consumers, we have ceased offering the 20GB model here in North America," said SCEA senior director of corporate communications Dave Karraker.

The news officially means that the 20gb PS3 is dead, and comes only six months after the launch of the PS3.

"In addition to the larger internal hard drive, the 60GB PlayStation 3 features added storage media slots and built-in Wi-Fi not found in the 20GB system. Based on retailer and consumer feedback, we have decided to focus our current efforts on the more popular 60GB model," he concluded.