As expected, the inventory stock of relatively affordable Sony PlayStation 3 60GB has depleted and the company currently has no plans to proceed with the model that costs $499 in the North America market. Even though there are still consoles on store shelves, in a few weeks those, who want to obtain a PlayStation 3 will again have only $599 option.

“We no longer have any [PS3 60GB] inventory in SCEA warehouses. All inventory has been purchased and shipped to retailers. We don’t have visibility as to if that is on their store shelves or in their warehouses at this time. However, based on inventory reports from our retailers, there is ample supply still left in the channel,” said Dave Karraker, senior director of corporate communications for Sony Computer Entertainment America, in an interview with PCWorld.

Earlier it was reported that Sony PlayStation 3 60GB inventory will last till late July, however, it is highly likely that it will be available for several more weeks, giving gamers an opportunity to start using the innovative game console for $499. Still, Sony’s online inventory had been fully depleted as of early this week.

The PlayStation 3 60GB game console with price slashed to $499 helped Sony to skyrocket sales of its latest game machine in the U.S., according to a report from NPD market tracking firm. It is also likely that sales of PS3 will be high in August, but after there are no more $499 machines left, they are likely to decrease unless Sony makes discounted game console available again.

Sony’s 60GB version of PlayStation 3 game console for the U.S. market has built-in PlayStation 2 hardware, which gives it ability to play all games developed for its predecessor. On the contrary, 80GB model available today relies on software emulation technologies, meaning that its backwards compatibility is not 100%.

“We won’t be making any further announcements regarding our PS3 model hardware strategy in North America until the 60GB model is exhausted and market conditions are evaluated,” a Sony representative is reported to have said.