It looks like the days of buying second hand games will become a thing of the past for the PlayStation 3 if Sony has its way. According to Games Radar, high street shops have been notified by Sony that it will be illegal for consumers to sell any games they buy for the upcoming PlayStation 3.
Sony appears to be planning to introduce a licensing model that consumers would have to agree with in order to play these upcoming games. The licensing plan would be that when a consumer purchases a PS3 game, they will be paying only for the right to play the game, but will not be entitled to sell it on as it will remain property of Sony.
While Sony has not confirmed this, if this plan goes ahead, it will be bad news for consumers who try to cut costs by buying games second hand or selling off games they no longer use. While this would give Sony extra sales by forcing consumers to buy their games new, retailers will also lose out as a good bulk of their profit comes from the sales of used games. However, despite worries about Sony may also lock games to a given console, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe has clarified that their PS3 games will be playable on any PlayStation 3 games console.
Update: According to EuroGamer news, Sony has officially denied the report by GamesRader claiming that this is “false speculation” and that they have not conveyed any such messages to the retailers. Apparently the report appears to have been based on an earlier rumour that Sony’s PS3 games would be bound to its PS3 consoles such that the games could only be played on one given console, however Sony also clarified that this would not be the case either. However, according to EuroGamer, Sony is still keen on trying to fight off the second hand software market, particularly since a group of Japanese publisher’s attempts to help outlaw the used-software trade in Japan have failed.
Thanks to both shimman and punan for letting us know about the following news:
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It seems that Sony is planning to adopt a licensing system that will mean gamers won’t own the PS3 titles that they’ve paid money for. Instead, they will only be purchasing the licence to play the game and that the software itself will still be Sony property – meaning that the disc won’t be the customer’s to sell. Some further info can be read on |
With how much Sony is subsidising the coming PlayStation 3, it seems like they are really trying to make sure that they recover the costs of the console. For example, the last thing they want to see is someone buying a PS3 only to ever play second hand games on it. However, the plan of banning used PS3 games is going overboard, as consumers may actually be put off buying certain games they are unsure about and cannot sell off later on.
On the other hand, if Sony is worried about losing out on consumers potentially buying 2nd hand games for their subsidised console, it looks like they have not taken into account consumers who will likely buy a PS3 as a budget Blu-ray player with no intention of ever playing any games on it, considering the cheaper PS3 model will be going for half the cheapest dedicated Blu-ray player.
Source: Games Radar
40 Comments
[edited by Seán on 25.05.2006 13:58]
[edited by swifty7 on 25.05.2006 12:08]
[edited by Seán on 25.05.2006 13:57]
| ...they will be paying only for the right to play the game, but will not be entitled to sell it on as it will remain property of Sony. |
When i'm sick of it i will sell it :B Sony ARS*hol*es :r .. :r 
If this is true then.... $#^@%#^@%#^@%^# I will never buy a PS3 if this is true. 
I have also asked them to pass it on and to keep spreading the word until the whole city of Louisville knows that they won't own a piece of the pie. 
[edited by H3rB3i on 26.05.2006 07:04]
[edited by LastStand on 26.05.2006 03:10]
Once the game has been sold, isn't the packaging, manual, and media the game is written on MY PROPERTY? So I am only going to be selling the packaging, manual and media? But seeing as I'm NEVER going to buy a dumb console anyway Sony can go *bleep* themselves :g[edited by Web-Junkie on 26.05.2006 03:20]
[edited by LastStand on 26.05.2006 06:55]
I own that junk so I can sell it. Maybe someone will tell us in the future on which toilets we are allowed to sh*t because of DRM (!) and guess what, I don't give a f*ck. :S Just my 3cents 
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