Sony tried to stop 20th Anniversary PS4 console scalping

"That’s not what we want to see happen" – that’s Sony UK boss Fergal Gara lamenting the high prices being attracted by 20th Anniversary Edition PS4 consoles on Ebay.

The machines became available last week via a pop-up Sony store. Some punters got the console for 19.94 while other paid the full 399.99. Common to all though was the propensity to immediately flog the thing on Ebay – with prices reaching as high as 6,800.

"It’s inevitable some proportion of that will happen, and very hard to prevent it completely,” Gara told Eurogamer.

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."

Sony is this week running a daily online mystery of sorts that requires users to guess a PlayStation character from a clue tweeted by PlayStation and GAME. Guess the character, click on them in the following montage and you’ll be presented with an order form.

Be among the first 100 to successfully complete the order and the machine is yours. For 399.99, of course. There will also be a daily draw for those who complete the form but miss out on the console.