Sony files patent to stop second-hand game sales

[StevenW]

http://www.psu.com/a017923/Sony-pate...and-game-sales

This kind of worries me. Games are expensive and unless it's a title I really want on day one, I tend to get most of my games from eBay. When there's four great games out in one month, it's even more likely I turn to the second-hand market.

Check out the link above about a new patent that Sony has filed.

[AaronSOLDIER]

Bad move. I never buy used games anymore but it'll hurt them for sure.

[Nakatomi Uk]

I could see them getting this patient and implementing it inside the PS4 as people have said with that being the case should it happen then I wont be buying a PS3, but what I dont understand is in the EU they passed a law that allows people to sell 2nd hand games with a CD key on PC etc so console gamers should also be effected and this shouldn't go through really I know CD key's etc are PC games but it still sort of applies

[mankind]

This will kill Sony if they go through with it. I'm a huge PS fan and if this happens I wont be buying the PS4.

[Ghost-Rhayne]

There have been all sorts of patents from Sony, from weird 3D devices and set ups to adverts that pause a game briefly before resuming. How many of these patents, if any, are used remains to be seen. MS patented a device that projects a 360 degree image on the walls around you, there's all sorts of crazy stuff going on in the patent world. If Sony implemented this (which I don't think they will given Tretton's sentiments about the blocking of used games being a disservice to the customers. If it happened, I would wager that it was something that both MS, Sony and publishers collaborate on. No company would be stupid enough to do this a lone because they are then fucked when the competion advertises itself as the only 8th gen console that can play used games.

[Fijiandoce]

no chip off my shoulder, i buy all my games new

http://www.psu.com/a017923/Sony-pate...and-game-sales

This kind of worries me. Games are expensive and unless it's a title I really want on day one, I tend to get most of my games from eBay. When there's four great games out in one month, it's even more likely I turn to the second-hand market.

Check out the link above about a new patent that Sony has filed.

-this isn't directed at you but more the reason-

release dates are told months in advance. even now, there are people clamoring for any tidbit of info they can get for GTA's release date. Save the money beforehand. problem solved. you can buy any game you want that way o.O

as for how this hurts sony guys...
how does this hurt sony when used games directly hurt sony?

i don't get the thinking....
are you that petty to not support a console trying to get back sales where they make their money? Profit comes from game sales, the console is sold to you at a loss.

used games = death of gaming.

[Ghost-Rhayne]

^^ Level headed as always.

[StevenW]

no chip off my shoulder, i buy all my games new



-this isn't directed at you but more the reason-

release dates are told months in advance. even now, there are people clamoring for any tidbit of info they can get for GTA's release date. Save the money beforehand. problem solved. you can buy any game you want that way o.O

as for how this hurts sony guys...
how does this hurt sony when used games directly hurt sony?

i don't get the thinking....
are you that petty to not support a console trying to get back sales where they make their money? Profit comes from game sales, the console is sold to you at a loss.

used games = death of gaming.

Good points.

If I was to buy all the games I wanted to play every year, gaming would cost me thousands. Thousands that I'll be spending on going on holiday, days out with my family, but most importantly the spiralling costs of running a household and childcare. Second-hand sales help millions of people to be able to play the games they want by buying them at a fraction of the cost.

I still buy lots of new games, but it's not always practical or affordable. It's naive to think that people can afford to save when many people live in their overdrafts. Piracy is rife because people don't have the cash. Buying second-hand is better than piracy. Second-hand sales die- piracy rises.

[mankind]

no chip off my shoulder, i buy all my games new



-this isn't directed at you but more the reason-

release dates are told months in advance. even now, there are people clamoring for any tidbit of info they can get for GTA's release date. Save the money beforehand. problem solved. you can buy any game you want that way o.O

as for how this hurts sony guys...
how does this hurt sony when used games directly hurt sony?

i don't get the thinking....
are you that petty to not support a console trying to get back sales where they make their money? Profit comes from game sales, the console is sold to you at a loss.

used games = death of gaming.

Are you telling me you don't see a problem with this? I don't get your thinking.... are you that petty to not understand what this could do to the gamer? That would mean no more renting games, so that means no try before you buy. If I buy a game and hate it, it would mean I cant trade it in and get some of my money back. It would put gaming retail shops in huge trouble. Where would we buy are games from then? I buy all my games new too but I know a few people that buy pre owned as they cant afford to buy all the games they want brand new. If Sony does this they are fucked big time.

Take away used games = death of gaming

[Fijiandoce]

Good points.

If I was to buy all the games I wanted to play every year, gaming would cost me thousands. Thousands that I'll be spending on going on holiday, days out with my family, but most importantly the spiralling costs of running a household and childcare. Second-hand sales help millions of people to be able to play the games they want by buying them at a fraction of the cost.

I still buy lots of new games, but it's not always practical or affordable. It's naive to think that people can afford to save when many people live in their overdrafts. Piracy is rife because people don't have the cash. Buying second-hand is better than piracy. Second-hand sales die- piracy rises.

i come from fiji man.

you're talking to the wrong person about being skint

i love gaming, its one of my favourite hobbies. that being said, i already have money set aside for games i think i 'might' get.
key word there is might. when the release date gets closer and i decide i don't want a particular game anymore i then have some free cash to put toward something else. games or other.

Are you telling me you don't see a problem with this? I don't get your thinking.... are you that petty to not understand what this could do to the gamer? That would mean no more renting games, so that means no try before you buy. If I buy a game and hate it, it would mean I cant trade it in and get some of my money back. It would put gaming retail shops in huge trouble. Where would we buy are games from then? I buy all my games new too but I know a few people that buy pre owned as they cant afford to buy all the games they want brand new. If Sony does this they are fucked big time.

Take away used games = death of gaming

so screw the companies who provide you this content?

put it this way. IF Sony had reason to believe everybody and their daughters would buy their games brand new the next PS4 would likely be alot more powerful then what they're currently tinkering away with.
why? because their margins would be bigger.

Sony make their money from the games they make. not just first party. Third party devs too.
Sony doesn't see a single cent of a used game.

[claud3]

http://www.psu.com/a017923/Sony-pate...and-game-sales

This kind of worries me. Games are expensive and unless it's a title I really want on day one, I tend to get most of my games from eBay. When there's four great games out in one month, it's even more likely I turn to the second-hand market.

Check out the link above about a new patent that Sony has filed.

Damn you sir, i was going to post this in the last minute or so lmao

on topic:

this will kill sony and they will lose a lot off fans and creators to this supid move

One can hope this will not come to fruition

[mankind]

i come from fiji man.

you're talking to the wrong person about being skint

i love gaming, its one of my favourite hobbies. that being said, i already have money set aside for games i think i 'might' get.
key word there is might. when the release date gets closer and i decide i don't want a particular game anymore i then have some free cash to put toward something else. games or other.




so screw the companies who provide you this content?

put it this way. IF Sony had reason to believe everybody and their daughters would buy their games brand new the next PS4 would likely be alot more powerful then what they're currently tinkering away with.
why? because their margins would be bigger.

Sony make their money from the games they make. not just first party. Third party devs too.
Sony doesn't see a single cent of a used game.

Put it any way you want, if Sony do this they are fucked. I only mentioned a few problems that would happen if they did this. I go and buy a PS4 and buy a shit load of games, the PS4 breaks and then my games become useless.

[StevenW]

i come from fiji man.

you're talking to the wrong person about being skint

i love gaming, its one of my favourite hobbies. that being said, i already have money set aside for games i think i 'might' get.
key word there is might. when the release date gets closer and i decide i don't want a particular game anymore i then have some free cash to put toward something else. games or other.




so screw the companies who provide you this content?

put it this way. IF Sony had reason to believe everybody and their daughters would buy their games brand new the next PS4 would likely be alot more powerful then what they're currently tinkering away with.
why? because their margins would be bigger.

Sony make their money from the games they make. not just first party. Third party devs too.
Sony doesn't see a single cent of a used game.

If I buy no games this year and save up the money for flight to Fiji, can I stay at yours? That place looks amazing. I understand it's in the best interests of any publisher to stem second-hand sales but they still make loads from games, right? I think CoD, for example, is pirated to hell, yet Activision survive on that franchise.

[Fijiandoce]

If I buy no games this year and save up the money for flight to Fiji, can I stay at yours? That place looks amazing. I understand it's in the best interests of any publisher to stem second-hand sales but they still make loads from games, right? I think CoD, for example, is pirated to hell, yet Activision survive on that franchise.

if you want. my house overlooks Suva bay and is currently unoccupied

Activision can afford that loss though. whats a few dollars to a millionaire?

fact remains that Sony, and subsequently developers, don't get the cash they think they should. going forward for them (THE GAMES INDUSTRY) becomes more difficult.
this affects us, and then you get people - as evidenced here - saying that it is Sony's fault etc. Sony can only respond to the market as that is where the money is. sadly people are giving all their money to retailers when they buy a used game. Sony is only left with dumbing down our experience with their product. (adjusting their margins) or pulling something like this.

[Shingo]

I buy some games (esp. games which have only single player ) with my friends (for example: enslaved ) since it divide the cash by 2 at least. But if you remove this option from me, then I won't buy any game that i am not sure it will be worth or not.
For example me and my friend both getting :
GTA V , God of War: Ascension,Beyond: Two Souls and The Last of Us seperately.
the games we are planing to get together:
Tomb Raider, Splinter Cell: Blacklist,Bioshock: Infinite and new Metro game.

If they bring this up now, i just can't buy the ones we planed to buy together.

You decide if its better or not.


On the other hand; StewenW, 4 games in a month?? that's not healthy so this law is good for you

[LfCpS3]

Games better either be cheaper OR OFFER a demo, if there is no second hand sales.

I think offering like a 1 hour or half an hour or just a 1 mission demo of every game would be a great way for this type of thing to be accepted, this way we can test the game out and judge if our money is worth it.

[StevenW]

Games better either be cheaper OR OFFER a demo, if there is no second hand sales.

I think offering like a 1 hour or half an hour or just a 1 mission demo of every game would be a great way for this type of thing to be accepted, this way we can test the game out and judge if our money is worth it.

Like that. If second-hand sales are prevented I want to see the price of games coming right down.

[Nitey]

OOh risky move. With the online pass on 1st party games, and if this one goes through, I'd have to say that Sony may be in a troublesome place with the PS4

Loads of people still buy used games.

If Xbox3 doesn't do this then said people will have zero interest in PS4

I buy 90% new games but I get it that a lot of people don't

[RaY_210]

I buy some games (esp. games which have only single player ) with my friends (for example: enslaved ) since it divide the cash by 2 at least. But if you remove this option from me, then I won't buy any game that i am not sure it will be worth or not.
For example me and my friend both getting :
GTA V , God of War: Ascension,Beyond: Two Souls and The Last of Us seperately.
the games we are planing to get together:
Tomb Raider, Splinter Cell: Blacklist,Bioshock: Infinite and new Metro game.

If they bring this up now, i just can't buy the ones we planed to buy together.

You decide if its better or not.


On the other hand; StewenW, 4 games in a month?? that's not healthy so this law is good for you

If you read the link (although I'm one to talk, I just skimmed it ), it says you can share a password or something so that you can play it on other consoles. So you and your friend can still do this, its just a minor inconvenience for one of you.

I may be in the minority, but this is probably one of the better suggestions for battling used game sales. Because of the option I stated above, rentals can come packed in with the password to allow rentals to continue. Used games sales can still happen between people directly, so places like Gamestop are less likely to profit, although sites like e-Bay can still sell with the code, but that's a risk the buyer will make incase someone doesn't give them the correct code. People hated Friend Codes in Nintendo systems, but lots of people still bought the systems and played online. I see this system a little like that. It's stupid and annoying and unnecessary, but it's there, and it can be worked around.

[claud3]

it's a kick in the nuts to gamers and creators... They need to boycott sony until they understand the true risk they are taking here

[radgamer420]

Good points.

If I was to buy all the games I wanted to play every year, gaming would cost me thousands. Thousands that I'll be spending on going on holiday, days out with my family, but most importantly the spiralling costs of running a household and childcare. Second-hand sales help millions of people to be able to play the games they want by buying them at a fraction of the cost.

I still buy lots of new games, but it's not always practical or affordable. It's naive to think that people can afford to save when many people live in their overdrafts. Piracy is rife because people don't have the cash. Buying second-hand is better than piracy. Second-hand sales die- piracy rises.

Totally agree. I couldnt have said it better.

[AaronSOLDIER]

it's a kick in the nuts to gamers and creators... They need to boycott sony until they understand the true risk they are taking here

To gamers, yes, to creators, the second hand market is nearly as bad as piracy.

TBH it won't affect them that much even if they go through with it, so long as PS4 has games people will still buy it, like the PS3 despite other mistakes Sony has made in the past they still pull in the gamers.

[keefy]

If they want to curb the second hand market they need to offer discounts and sales more often so gamers will buy them from their digital stores.

I expect All games for PS4 will be able to be downloaded via PSN (or whatever its called now) so all we need is the CD key enter it and bingo the download begins. So that means every game we own is tied to our PSN account.

IT could mean a trading system could be put into place so people can swap their games when they are finished with them instead of selling them, however that way Sony does not see any extra money but users do get a better deal than just not allowing us to sell games.

[Shingo]

If you read the link (although I'm one to talk, I just skimmed it ), it says you can share a password or something so that you can play it on other consoles. So you and your friend can still do this, its just a minor inconvenience for one of you.

Great to hear that, thanks. Btw i may slide to nintendo if sony make me angry enough ( altough i never been in my life ) but there is noway for me to spend a coin for xbox..

[RaY_210]

Great to hear that, thanks. Btw i may slide to nintendo if sony make me angry enough ( altough i never been in my life ) but there is noway for me to spend a coin for xbox..

Same here, I'm Nintendo/Sony all the way lol