Sony furious at PlayStation games console grey imports

Oct 19, 2006 14:31 GMT  ·  By

As Sony recently won a legal battle against a Japanese retailer that was selling Japanese PSP to European customers, they are becoming more and more strict when it comes to imports.

Sony representatives stated that any imports of their PS2, PSP or PS3 games consoles from Japan or America has to be done with their permission, otherwise it's considered illegal. They have made this announcement because of the upcoming PS3 release, to avoid swindlers from making money of the PS3's. As you probably already know, a Japanese version of the PS3 is much cheaper than an American version. A Japanese retailer will sell the PS3 for US$ 410 a piece, while stateside, a PS3 will cost around US$ 510. There is some money to be made from console imports, too bad Sony is declaring them illegal.

Undoubtedly, the demand for PS3 imports will be extremely high in Europe, as North American and Japanese retailers will receive the PS3 4 months earlier than their European counterparts. Little is known what actions Sony Computer Entertainment will take to prevent these kinds of imports from happening. Certainly, some fanatic European gamers will find the resources necessary to get their hands on the PS3 as soon as it comes out.