Sony said it would launch an auction site in June that would tap into the unofficial market for buying and selling "virtual" characters and other items that are created in online games. Estimates of the value of make-believe goods such as those sold online range up to $800m a year, Sony said, and executives have been studying how to tap into this new form of e-commerce.

Known as Station Exchange, the site will bring added security to this form of online trading, Sony said. Digital files of the characters or other items that are put up for sale will be transferred to a Sony server, the company said, so that buyers will be guaranteed delivery once a sale is agreed.