Simply Games says PS4 upgrade offer is "largely a retailer-led initiative"

Online retailer Simply Games has confirmed to MCV that it’s PS4 pre-order upgrade plan has not been forced upon it by Sony.

The company has been contacting customers who have pre-ordered a PS4 telling them that they must upgrade to a more expensive bundle to secure their machine.

We are aware of some fairly major inaccuracies that have been reported on various web sites,” Simply Games director Neil Muspratt told MCV. Whilst this is very regrettable, we have taken the decision not to get involved with internet speculation, rumours and untruths.

We can confirm that ours is largely a retailer-led initiative and on site we have listed a combination of Sony bundles and our own PS4 bundle offers. By and large these offers have been very well received, to the point at which our launch allocation has now all been sold through.”

Sony, meanwhile, has confirmed to MCV that the PS4 upgrades being offered by retail partners are not mandatory.

We value our consumers and offered the bundles precisely to give them choice and value. And the key word there is choice,” Sony UK told MCV. We have not nor would we ever force people to buy one of these instead. Sony is not and would not force anyone to buy something they don’t want.

Since the announcement of these bundles we have been asking retailers to reach out to their pre-order customers to give them the choice of taking a bundle (which hadn’t been announced when they placed their original pre-order).

We continue to work closely with our retail partners to ensure we offer this choice against the challenges of managing demand and inventory in the climate of amazing excitement and unprecedented demand for PlayStation 4.”