Sony in Japan has accidentally erased the list of all 123 winners of its PlayStation 4 Anniversary Edition contest, meaning it will need to restart the competition.

The corporation has offered its "deepest apologies," after determining that all data of the winning contestants is irretrievable.

"Our deepest apologies for the trouble we have caused to those who entered the previous campaign," Sony wrote on its website, as translated by Kotaku.

Between December and January, customers in Japan who bought either a PlayStation 3, a PlayStation 4, a PS Vita, or PlayStation TV, were eligible to receive a calendar attached with a unique code.

Of those customers, Sony picked 123 codes as the winners, and was prepared to send each a highly sought-after 20th Anniversary PlayStation 4, of which only 12,300 exist worldwide.

Sony asks that those who still have the calendar codes to resubmit them for the competition. Those who have thrown their codes away after can still enter via a more elongated process, whereby they submit their hardware's serial number, which Sony can cross-reference as being purchased during the competition period.

The company also assures that, while it had lost the crucial data, user details have apparently not been compromised. It did not explain how it lost the information.

In December, Sony marked the 20-year anniversary of the PlayStation 1 launch by manufacturing a custom PS4.

Packaged in a special commemorative box, the custom PS4 is resplendent with a familiar silver/grey finish, with a small insignia etched onto the chassis that shows each unit's unique number. The DualShock 4 controller, meanwhile, is coloured in the same manner and brings back the original PlayStation logo. A closer look shows that the controller's touch-pad has also been decorated with 20 marked in the pattern.