Buying one is hardly an impossible feat; however, recently there do seem to be a higher percentage of retailers with the machine sold out.
Take that sign, which says that all colors of the PS3 are sold out.
At a Sofmap retailer, there are no laminated PS3 tickets you can take to the register to exchange for a PS3 — meaning, this shop has no PS3s in stock. There are PS2, Xbox 360 and Wii tickets as those consoles are in stock.
All this comes as a notice surfaced, stating that 80GB PLAYSTATION 3 sales would cease on August 9. The surfaced notice was apparently from retailer 7-Eleven (7-Eleven sells video games in Japan) and stated that pre-orders for the Black, White and Silver 80GB PS3 will cease on Sunday, August 9 at 10am.
https://lastchance.cc/80gb-playstation-3-to-be-discontinued-in-japan-5329352%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
The rumor is that Sony will be unveiling a new PS3 model at the Games Convention in Germany and the decision to take the 80GB off the market in Japan is to make room for that new model.
今、都内ではＰＳ３本体が売り切れらしい [オレ的ゲーム速報＠刃]
