As many PS3 gamers may have noticed by now, the newly released Warhawk isn’t sharable. At least, not by the standards we’ve become accustomed to. While Warhawk can be downloaded on up to five different machines, there are set boundaries on how it can be played. If you put on your reading glasses to view the fine text on the PlayStation Store, you’ll see this information:
"One time fee for download or use solely by the purchasing PSN account on up to five PS3 units, with no more than one activated PS3 unit within a 24 hour period. Content may not be used by any other account."
In a comment to Next-Gen.biz, Sony explained their “alternative Digital Rights Management (DRM) policy” for the Warhawk download.
They must “protect our [Sony’s] investment” and “maintain our [Sony’s] ability to offer a 24-hour free online gameplay experience.” Understandable, as Warhawk must have been a costly game to develop and PSN remains free.
Expect a case-by-case basis for upcoming PSN titles, taking into account “development costs, maintenance cost, server costs and other factors". We’ll bet our life-savings that the upcoming Socom download follows in Warhawk’s footsteps.