Sony Could Be Looking At Used Game DRM As Well [Rumor]
When Microsoft announced the Xbox One a week ago one of the first things on people’s minds was whether or not the system was going to employ some sort of measure to restrict the use of used games on the system. Since then we’ve heard all sorts of different rumors ranging from “people with used games will have to buy a whole copy for themselves” to “people who play a used copy won’t have to pay an extra cent”. However, it’s been assumed that because Sony hasn’t said anything about limiting used games that they weren’t going to install any sort of DRM for the PS4.
However, there’s a chance that Sony might be looking at putting in some sort of DRM for used games after all. According to industry pundit Geoff Keighley “…The one thing that is amazing to me is that right now we’re not hearing a lot from the game publishers about what their view is on this. The console companies are becoming the bad guys. And, you know, Microsoft is getting beaten up a lot on it. Sony, I think, has been seen as this kind of white knight so far that’s not going to restrict used games. Based on some of the things I’m hearing, I don’t think that’s entirely true, because I can’t see publishers allowing one system to do one thing and one do another.”
Is it possible? Sure, of course it is. However, I’m not exactly sure if that’ll exactly work. After all, the biggest way to make sure that a game isn’t installed on more than one machine is to require the system to have some sort of internet connection, and Sony has gone on record and said that “yes, you can go offline totally” and you’d still be able to play. However, it’s still possible that Sony could go with an offline machine and still have some sort of way to manage the games that are played on the machine, through the use of an RFID chip embedded on the disc. Here’s hoping that doesn’t come to pass…
