Sony Discontinues 80GB PS3, Says Retailer Memo

Best Buy will discontinue the sale of the US$499 PlayStation 3 on January 28, says an alleged store "closeout" memo sent to PS3 Fanboy.

"The 80GB version of the PS3 is going closeout and won't be replaced at this time," reads the unverified memo. "Only the 40GB version of PS3 will be sold in Best Buy stores at this time."

As the memorandum notes, "this means that there currently isn't a version that is PS2 compatible."

Of the three major game territories, North America is the only location currently supporting a multi-system lineup. Both Japan and the U.K. have already dropped former models to support a single, and cheaper 40GB model that lacks backward compatibility.

Sony of America abandoned the 20GB and 60GB PS3 models last year, leaving two available models: 40GB ($399) and 80GB ($499) versions, the latter of which uses software to playback a limited number of PS2 titles.

Sony was not immediately available for comment.