Sony's Jack Tretton confirms third-party publishers can enforce DRM for playing used games online, just like with PS3

Sony's Jack Tretton confirms third-party publishers can enforce DRM for playing used games online, just like with PS3
Last night, Sony announced to great applause that there would no restrictions on playing used discs.

Today, Sony America CEO Jack Tretton, confirmed that publishers would still have the ability to dictate DRM for used games online, just like they do with the PS3.



This morning, Tretton said: "Well, I mean, we create the platform, we've certainly stated that our first-party games are not going to be doing that, but we welcome publishers and their business models to our platform. There's gonna be free-to-play, there's gonna be every potential business model on there, and again, that's up to their relationship with the consumer, what do they think is going to put them in the best fit. We're not going to dictate that, we're gonna give them a platform to publish on. The DRM decision is going to have to be answered by the third parties, it's not something we're going to control, or dictate, or mandate, or implement."

His original comments spooked some PlayStation fans but Sony was quick to clear up any confusion: "Similar to PS3, we will not dictate the online used game strategy (the ability to play used games online) of its publishing partners. As announced last night, PS4 will not have any gating restrictions for used disc-based games. When a gamer buys a PS4 disc they have right to use that copy of the game, so they can trade-in the game at retail, sell it to another person, lend it to a friend, or keep it forever."

Fortunately, not too many publishers have taken this route and those that have have seen backlash.

Sony's PS4 goes on sale in the U.S. for $399 in November. The rival Xbox One requires authentication, even in single-player mode, every 24 hours and used games will require deactivation from a previous console and re-authentication for your console.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 11 Jun 2013 21:08
Tags
jack tretton Sony PlayStation 4
Advertisement - News comments available below the ad
  • 11 comments
  • GryphB

    My suspicions been confirmed then. Likely these publishers are what will hurt Sony. But we can all hope for the best. No consumer likes DRM, but the creators do for the right reasons. Unfortunately it's just a bad world we live in.

    The flip side of it is to make these affordable for all and there wouldn't be such a need to have this DRM in place.

    Flame away, I know there are bound to be those to disagree.

    11.6.2013 21:43 #1

  • ddp

    i don't.

    11.6.2013 21:47 #2

  • nintenut

    Exactly how the PS3 was, then? Excellent.
    This has been one of my favorite E3s, maybe even my favorite, because of the beating Microsoft took after the announcement of their new policies.

    11.6.2013 22:45 #3

  • megadunderhead

    i perfered the comment made by a gamer sony took the xbox one around town jail style

    12.6.2013 00:29 #4

  • cazer

    Originally posted by GryphB: My suspicions been confirmed then. Likely these publishers are what will hurt Sony. But we can all hope for the best. No consumer likes DRM, but the creators do for the right reasons. Unfortunately it's just a bad world we live in.

    The flip side of it is to make these affordable for all and there wouldn't be such a need to have this DRM in place.

    Flame away, I know there are bound to be those to disagree.
    I don't disagree with what you say Except for the affordable part. Now we do not know what it costs to make games. But today many people are involved in making them and several company's for just one game. Now these company's need to make money so they can make more games and every person involved needs to be paid. Some of the games take years to make. Plus they need to pay for servers and people to maintain them. Then you need to pay the people that deliver the games to the stores and the stores them selfs need to make money. Everyone needs to make money off the games that we buy and there are a lot of people from start to finish that are involved with just one game. If no one made money from making games no one would make them on the scale that they are made on today. Yes some do it just because they like it but most do it to make a living. Now is a $60 price tag to high? I don't know. Are the game company's making to much Profit? I don't know. What I do know is it takes money and lots of it to make good games and most people don't think about what it takes to that.

    12.6.2013 01:13 #5

  • GryphB

    Originally posted by cazer: Originally posted by GryphB: My suspicions been confirmed then. Likely these publishers are what will hurt Sony. But we can all hope for the best. No consumer likes DRM, but the creators do for the right reasons. Unfortunately it's just a bad world we live in.

    The flip side of it is to make these affordable for all and there wouldn't be such a need to have this DRM in place.

    Flame away, I know there are bound to be those to disagree.
    I don't disagree with what you say Except for the affordable part. Now we do not know what it costs to make games. But today many people are involved in making them and several company's for just one game. Now these company's need to make money so they can make more games and every person involved needs to be paid. Some of the games take years to make. Plus they need to pay for servers and people to maintain them. Then you need to pay the people that deliver the games to the stores and the stores them selfs need to make money. Everyone needs to make money off the games that we buy and there are a lot of people from start to finish that are involved with just one game. If no one made money from making games no one would make them on the scale that they are made on today. Yes some do it just because they like it but most do it to make a living. Now is a $60 price tag to high? I don't know. Are the game company's making to much Profit? I don't know. What I do know is it takes money and lots of it to make good games and most people don't think about what it takes to that.
    Good point. Well taken.

    12.6.2013 09:20 #6

  • DarthMopar

    The simplest solution to this is to not support publishers that implement the used game fees. Not a fan of this policy. Once the game is purchased, the game is purchased. As long as it's not a pirated copy the end-user should be free to share or sell it free of publisher intervention.

    12.6.2013 12:00 #7

  • joebloe12

    Originally posted by GryphB: My suspicions been confirmed then. Likely these publishers are what will hurt Sony. But we can all hope for the best. No consumer likes DRM, but the creators do for the right reasons. Unfortunately it's just a bad world we live in.

    The flip side of it is to make these affordable for all and there wouldn't be such a need to have this DRM in place.

    Flame away, I know there are bound to be those to disagree.
    DRM does NOT stop pirates though, they usually have a cracked copy of the game the day it is out and are playing it for free while the poor people who purchased the game legally are the ones jumping through the hoops!

    So tell me HOW that makes sense again?

    To me DRM doesn't make sense period. It punishes those who buy the game while the ones who do not pay a cent for the same game get to enjoy the game without DRM.

    12.6.2013 13:36 #8

  • Bigwillyz

    Originally posted by joebloe12: Originally posted by GryphB: My suspicions been confirmed then. Likely these publishers are what will hurt Sony. But we can all hope for the best. No consumer likes DRM, but the creators do for the right reasons. Unfortunately it's just a bad world we live in.

    The flip side of it is to make these affordable for all and there wouldn't be such a need to have this DRM in place.

    Flame away, I know there are bound to be those to disagree.
    DRM does NOT stop pirates though, they usually have a cracked copy of the game the day it is out and are playing it for free while the poor people who purchased the game legally are the ones jumping through the hoops!

    So tell me HOW that makes sense again?

    To me DRM doesn't make sense period. It punishes those who buy the game while the ones who do not pay a cent for the same game get to enjoy the game without DRM.
    This is the same thing that's going on on NY with pistol permit holders. We are not allowed to have over 7 bullets in our firearms. WE are the ones that follow the law to the T and go through the rigorous background checks but are being punished because of assholes that break the law. Criminals don't care about they law, they are still going to have big magazines and illegal firearms. Hackers are still going to hack. It's crazy how closely this all lines up, are we the gamers now criminals?? We have to be babysitted by DRM? The Xbox has to check up on us every 24 hours.......? A little eerie if you ask me

    12.6.2013 20:56 #9

  • buddyleem

    Support developers! Buy only new games

    Hack a bit, invest a bit, work a bit, jerk a bit

    13.6.2013 04:34 #10

  • Jemborg

    I wonder what the price of an X1 game compared to a PS4 will be.

    In Oz the PS3 games used to be $10 more than the X360 games... with PC being even cheaper.

    We pay a lot for games here so if if we could buy them online from OS region free like it's suggested for PS4 games...

    Its a lot easier being righteous than right.


    13.6.2013 07:46 #11

© 2024 AfterDawn Oy

Hosted by
Powered by UpCloud