Microsoft offering store credit bounty on PS3s

An ad encouraging customers to ditch their PS3s has been released to some mailing lists.

Microsoft is offering $100 of credit to its store when trading in Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles.

The promotion is an effort to further promote the Xbox One and encourage gamers to trade up on their current console. The fact that they are also encouraging trade ins of Sony's devices has raised a few eyebrows.

An ad has been emailed out to several customers encouraging them to 'ditch' their PS3 in exchange for store credit towards the Xbox One. The terms and conditions require for the consoles to be in working order and without any broken or missing parts, with original chargers and accessories and can't be locked by a password.

Whilst Microsoft is likely to re-sell the Xbox 360s, it is unclear what Microsoft intends to do with the Playstation 3s that it receives.

The offer is only available for residents of the US, Canada and Puerto Rico and is only valid in physical Microsoft retail stores as opposed to online. The deal will run from now until the beginning of March.

The Xbox One and Playstation 4 have both been locked in a close-run race since their launch with both units breaking the 1 million units mark very quickly after their respective launches. At the end of last year, Sony sold approximately 4.2m Playstation 4s and Microsoft sold approximately 3.2m Xbox Ones.

Current figures released by Sony suggest that in the UK, its console is outpacing its Microsoft rival by 1.5 Playstation 4s sold for every single Xbox One.