 |
| Things are never as simple as they initially seam… |
Less than 48 hours ago, Sony was met with an immense amount of applause at its E3 press conference when the company issued the consumer-friendly statement that the upcoming PlayStation 4 would have no restrictions in the sharing and sale of used video games. It was easily one of the most momentous occasions of E3, whether or not you believe it deserved its reputation. However, it seems that Sony started revealing the true nature of its system less than 24 hours later.
In an interview held today (11/6/2013) with Spike TV, Sony Computer Entertainment of America CEO Jack Trenton, the man responsible for the inciting the applause, said, “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.” After a short internet outburst over the ambiguous statement, Gamefront decided to directly confront Sony on Trenton’s comment. This was the following response;
“The Online Pass program for PlayStation first-party games will not continue on PlayStation 4. 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.”
So in conclusion, third-party used game systems (see EA’s Online Pass system) will still be allowed on the platform while Sonys own online pass system has been demolished. While this can be still seen as a positive, the recently revealed information that PlayStation 4 multiplayer will be locked behind a PlayStation Plus subscription does put the removal of a first-party online pass into a greater context.
