Sony Patents a Way to Sabotage Used Game Market

[JagermanXcell]

Yeah. No. I'll stick with the PS3.
You "smart" consumers can have your PS4.
Have fun with Sony's "genius" plan.

 

[Akimoto]

Sony, evidently not satisfied with the console war, is now in the running for "Most Evil Game Corporation" title. Activition and EA both look hard to beat, but you're on your way there Sony! Ganbatte!

How am I going to explain to my wide-eyed little brother that games are made and published by people who also love games now?

 

[00slash00]

well if i like a game enough to buy it, ill buy it new so this doesnt hurt me in the slightest. as someone who has bounced back and forth between pc gaming and console gaming, i just dont get the big deal with having to buy games new. try and buy a used pc game at gamestop...go ahead, ill wait.

i welcome the idea of used games going away, then i wouldnt have to see the stupid debate pop up anymore

 

[I.Muir]

Didn't have enough money to buy that 56th porch?

 

[Burst6]

My guess is that Sony is copyrighting this so they can do it if Microsoft decides to do it first. They can't seriously be stupid enough to release this.

I'm a very poor person. I own a grand total of 2 console games, and i usually rent every other game from gamefly. If this happens, renting will become impossible along with used games, so no more games for me.


If they do This i'll skip the playstation and get the Nintendo console that'll be out at that time. It'll be nice to catch up on all the zelda games i missed.

 

[gigastar]

Well, since Sony holds the patent for this at least we can be sure that Microsoft wont try to fuck us with it.

And last time i checked Sony officials werent so abysmally stupid as to force DRM such as this onto a console.

And theres a realatively low chance of it ever being used anyway.

So for now theres little issue to be actually had.

 

[Zeldias]

God, this reaction to use game purchases is so stupid. What makes video game developers such a special case? Book publishers and authors don't whine about used book sales. DVD companies and film producers don't ***** about used movie sales. Also, is it just me, or is it ironic that this restrictive tech is coming from the producers of the PS2, which is famous for doing well because of having a back catalog of PS1 games that could be played on it? Yeah, I'm sure a lot of those were from PS1 owners who got the latest console and didn't want to have to throw out their old games...but I'll bet there was a significant number of people who chose a PS2 over an Xbox or a Gamecube because they could also buy used PS1 games from Gamestop, Ebay, flea markets and garage/yard sales.

Lots of authors hate used book sales. And book publishers. You know how many screeds I've read against reselling books on Amazon and shit? I figure it might be different for the film industry, I don't really know about that.

To be on topic, yeah, this is dumb, but I'm not really surprised to see folks trying to muscle in on used game sales. My beef with this is that it's not a service to anyone, really. If there's gonna be something that's gonna attack used game sales, I'd like to see it help the playerbase and the developers mostly.

 

[madster11]

I'm fucking sick of the video games industry doing this bullshit. Do they think they're somehow better than every other industry on the face of the goddamn planet?
Do you see cars being locked to 1 user?
TVs?
Laptops?
How about furniture? Do they lock chairs people buy to 1 ass?
No they fucking don't. Our ENTIRE SOCIETY is based on the resale of goods. You buy something, you use it until you get bored with it, and then you sell it. Our world has worked like this for over 2000 years. If a damn roman bought a certain bow and then got stronger, he'd sell it and buy a new one.

Fuck off modern games industry. Bunch of selfish, self-entitled greedy little dipshits who think they deserve millions just because they can click a bunch of buttons on a GUI engine editor. From all the shit i've been hearing about the durango/PS4, i very much doubt i'll be buying the next generation of consoles. I'll save my money for GoG instead, and enjoy games from before the on-disc DLC and $10 online pass generation.

 

[TheRookie8]

Huh, talk about troubled waters.

I'm not sure I find this sort of thing entirely dastardly, as the article put it. If minimization of risk in new game IP's results in more quality, and less DLC attachment, and perhaps a potential decrease in overall game price (or any combination of the three), I think I could get behind this.

I just think that people don't like being fenced into buying the one expensive copy. People like options. I buy pre-owned games, but I also buy games new when I want to support a developer.

Hrm...this just rubs me the wrong way. Stay tuned for more information.

 

[vxicepickxv]

I fully support Sony's move to patent this on the grounds that I only have an XBox and a patent means that Microsoft can't use this technology against me.

For those of you who aren't aware, it is possible for a company to lease a patented idea or product to another company. It happens all the time.

 

[madster11]

I just think that people don't like being fenced into buying the one expensive copy. People like options. I buy pre-owned games, but I also buy games new when I want to support a developer.

I'd love to support some developers, but good luck finding new PS2 games in store. Only option is to buy used.

So, how well will that go down in 5 years when you want to buy an older game on a PS4, hmm?

When they do this, your duty as a consumer is to burn them to the motherfucking ground (metaphorically speaking).

Not sure 'metaphorically' will work. I was thinking bring the original meaning of 'piracy' back and start dropping the containers with PS4/PS4 games in them off the side of the container ships.
Laugh as they sink.

 

[SlaveNumber23]

Fascism.

Plain and fucking simple.

These companies just do not want to co-operate with their userbases.

While calling it Fascism might be a little extreme, I completely agree with you. Not one other manufacturer complains when their cars, movies, music or any other items are sold second hand, what makes game developers so special? It reminds me of some bratty little kid throwing a tantrum and changing the rules of the game they are losing. I'm done with consoles, time to hook up my PC to my TV.

 

[Strazdas]

isnt tieing a game to a perosns account kinda whats done in steam already?

So the real question here is the definition of Property Rights and whether your "copy" of X software is in fact your legal property.

no its not. you have bought a license to play this game for unlimited amount of time. thats lal you have on your shelf.


as long as they themself provide a resale service, you know, something that Steam is planing, it will be fine. otherwise - rot in hell.

Huh, talk about troubled waters.

I'm not sure I find this sort of thing entirely dastardly, as the article put it. If minimization of risk in new game IP's results in more quality, and less DLC attachment, and perhaps a potential decrease in overall game price (or any combination of the three), I think I could get behind this.

I just think that people don't like being fenced into buying the one expensive copy. People like options. I buy pre-owned games, but I also buy games new when I want to support a developer.

Hrm...this just rubs me the wrong way. Stay tuned for more information.

your using logic to tell that game will get more quality and decrease in price. publishers dont use logic, they use greed. what you tell is not possible due to existence of publishers.

 

[someonehairy-ish]

I'm fucking sick of the video games industry doing this bullshit. Do they think they're somehow better than every other industry on the face of the goddamn planet?
Do you see cars being locked to 1 user?
TVs?
Laptops?
How about furniture? Do they lock chairs people buy to 1 ass?

But TVs and furniture and cars will generally last people for years. So their manufacturers get to keep selling them new for years, because that first lot hasn't gone back onto the market yet. But, with games, that shit is consumed and ready to be resold in a matter of days; everything gets played and resold within about a week. So, devs and publishers get that first week's worth of sales, and then their sales drop massively because suddenly the market is full of cheaper used copies of that game.

I'm not saying that what they're doing is right, but please tell me you at least see how used sales can be pretty fucking catastrophic for the games industry in a way that they never could be for those other industries?

Personally, I actually think that cutting down used game sales would be extremely beneficial to the industry as a whole, because publishers would be much more relaxed about funding new IPs, and hopefully slightly less retarded about pushing clones of whatever's popular rather than actually trying to engage with their customers. We might get something fresh from the AAA market!
Unfortunately, publishers currently garrote themselves with completely arse-backwards DRM and anti-piracy practices, rather than approaching the whole thing intelligently. So they're fucked, and the whole industry will slowly stagnate until something shifts.

I think Steam is proof that you can tie games to an account without making it annoying. It can be done! So take a leaf out of Valve's book, you morons.

 

[darksakul]

I like to point out that a device does not have to work or even physically exist to have a Paten filed.

 

[Scars Unseen]

This is a pretty blatant violation of first sale doctrine. I'm sure the US courts won't do anything about it because fuck consumer rights, but I imagine it won't fly to well over on the other side of the Atlantic.

No it isn't. Read the EULA some time. You don't buy videogames, you are merely renting them indefinitely for(usually) a one time fee. You can't rent a car and then sell it any more than you can a videogame. This does not however, apply to most old games from the early 90s and before, but anything from the past 10-15 years is not something you technically own.

EULAs aren't laws. First sale doctrine is, and those if that EULA tells you you can't sell the game you bought, it is violating copyright law. Of course high paid lawyers either twist the law or bully those that can't afford lawyers so that the law does not serve its intended purpose, but that does not make it right, and as consumers we should not accept it as so.

 

[kommando367]

I'll be watching for news on the PS4. If I hear about this shit showing up on that system, then I'll just stick to Microsoft. If it's on the Durango, I'll skip the new consoles entirely.

 

[Reaper195]

This must only ha[[en in the States...because pre-owned games are generally less than five bucks cheaper than their unowned brother. It'll also fuck over mates borrowing games from other mates, which happens a lot with consoles.

 

[Mauler]

So i can newer lend a game to my friend wo owns a different console... So what if it backfires and the ID would be unreadable and all DRM would just be a on way ticket to hell(b-cuz of star force i hawent played many ubisoft games...)?

 

[someonehairy-ish]

Personally, I actually think that cutting down used game sales would be extremely beneficial to the industry as a whole, because publishers would be much more relaxed about funding new IPs, and hopefully slightly less retarded about pushing clones of whatever's popular rather than actually trying to engage with their customers. We might get something fresh from the AAA market!
Unfortunately, publishers currently garrote themselves with completely arse-backwards DRM and anti-piracy practices, rather than approaching the whole thing intelligently. So they're fucked, and the whole industry will slowly stagnate until something shifts.

I think Steam is proof that you can tie games to an account without making it annoying. It can be done! So take a leaf out of Valve's book, you morons.

unfortunately once used games sales are gone, then the publishers will whine about steam sales and affordable gaming will become more difficult. Its also important to stress how in the console market, used games are a big part of new games sales, A huge number of people trade their old games in to be able to afford the new ones.

Aye, but that's mainly due to the fact that new games are so exorbitantly priced and also that you have to trade them in immediately for it to be worthwhile to do so. Both of those things could conceivably change, but it would need a pretty big shift in the industry.