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An anonymous UK retailer has said that thanks to the PlayStation Network downtime PS3 trade-ins have gone up 200 per cent.
“In the first week of downtime we did not really see any major change in sales or trades,” said a store manager at a UK gaming outlet. “However from the second week onwards we have seen an increase of over 200 per cent on PS3 consoles being traded in, split almost 50/50 between those trading for cash and those taking a 360 instead.”
Another source told EDGE that they have seen a “massive increase” in the amount of people trading in their PS3s for Xbox 360s.
When the PSN went offline on the 20th April, and the software sales figures reflect this. Call of Duty: Black Ops sales split 59%/30% for the Xbox the following week, and last week the sales were split 66%/24% again in the Xbox’s favour.
One of EDGE‘s sources said:
“Pre-orders have been cancelled and flipped over to 360 versions of games… A lot of people have been phoning asking us about personal details on PSN as they are struggling to get a response from Sony themselves. Overall, people that have traded with us seem annoyed at how Sony has handled all of this, and say they would not trust them with details again in the future.”
Unfortunately GAME, the UK’s biggest retailer, failed to comment. Obviously this would have given a better overall picture of the state of Sony in the UK but it’s still interesting information to ponder upon. Have any of you traded in your PS3s for 360s? Will you still trust Sony with your details if they ever bring the PSN back? Let us know in the comments.