Geoff Keighley: Sources say Sony will include PS4 used game DRM

[Deleted_171835]

On the latest Bonus Round episode over at Gametrailers, Geoff Keighley said that his sources were indicating that Sony would be implementing some form of used game DRM, just as Microsoft has done with the Xbox One.

http://www.gametrailers.com/full-ep...und-dissecting-the-microsoft-press-conference (@17:50)

 

[nukeboy95]

well wiiu is now the best (if true)

 

[xist]

E3 is not literally 10 minutes away so jumping on every rumour is getting really tiresome. Although given what I've read about the used market in Japan this seems unlikely to be true at any more than an individual publisher level.

 

[weavile001]

Well, fuck.
I can't believe this.

 

[Foxi4]

"A little bird told me" style of news without any real evidence? Yay! That's our favourite kind!

My sources say this thread will go well!

Well, fuck.

I can't believe this.

I can't either, for an array of completely different reasons.

Sony's stock went up after XBox One's presentation partially due to the way Microsoft wants to approach used games - Sony would not be doing themselves a favour by preparing an equivalent system. It's safe to assume that the company is not managed by a hundred monkeys locked in cubicles, so I don't see this happening. They spoke of the used games situation on the PS4 ages ago - DRM is in the hands of the publishers and developers, just like it was with the PS3.

 

[BasedKiliK]

Like xist said, learning about a new rumor every other day at this point is getting ridiculous. E3's right around the corner so I'd rather hear about official confirmations then. Though I consider this unlikely given how many gamers care about used and second-hand games, and how bad MS has it right now. (I also remember in an interview someone from Sony stating that they will not be blocking used games)

 

[Dork]

Geoff Keighley said that his sources were indicating

So, it hasn't been confirmed yet.

 

[notmeanymore]

If this is true, then I'm 100% converting to PC Master Race. I was going to go PS4 and PC, but no more.

 

[Wombo Combo]

If this is true, then I'm 100% converting to PC Master Race. I was going to go PS4 and PC, but no more.

Same only going to be gaming on my PC from now on. I only bought used games on all the consoles I had.

 

[xist]

Taken from Neogaf -

Originally Posted by Zombie James:
It would be an amazingly good sign if community reaction changed plans like this. It would be stupid for Sony to have agreed to such a thing in the first place, but listening to what people are saying and reacting accordingly is nice.

It absolutely does. Whenever i've been told about shitty things possibly happening both of the people I know at sony, who are hardcore gamers just like us, both say "make a big stink about this to yoshida (@yosp) on twitter.

I mean these guys are human, you can't keep hearing negative things and think that it's a good idea. Like I said before, I don't know anyone inside MS but basic human nature tells me that they are not happy about the reaction and will change their positions accordingly.



This week was a PR nightmare for MS. There's no two ways about it. That doesn't mean they already lost next gen. It doesn't mean that third parties are jumping ship. It's nothing crazy like fanboy delusions. But a bad PR week for any company makes that company sit down and ask themselves "How can we turn this around?" If MS or Sony think that pissing off a lot of people will cost them more money than whatever unpopular thing they want to implement would make... they will 86 that shit. It's all about dollars.

Sony also is in a tactically advantageous position right now where they aren't talking about it and they won't talk about it until they have to. And this is only amplified by the fact that they go second at E3.


I do want to warn that these decisions do flipflop (as evidenced by what i posted earlier this week vs now). I'm not 100% on this. The people I know aren't 100% on this. Some suit can come in and fuck the entire thing up. So I wouldn't go running around screaming "HAHA SONY ISN'T DOING IT!" I just wanted people to know that as of now Sony has flipped their position in response to the shitstorm microsoft got hit with.

So don't let the "just be quiet until E3" people sway you. If you don't like something, say something. Twitter is amazing for being able to talk to people in these corporations. YOSP will even respond if it's about something he can talk about (he is currently not responding to ANY questions about Used game... but you can bet your ass he is reading them).

Be respectful and tell them how you feel. I would assume this is true of MS also. And it actually works. They want our money and if they start to get scared that they won't they WILL change things.

 

[Thomas83Lin]

I'm not believing this until Sony confirms.

 

[narutofan777]

What would be the problem with this turn of events? Personally I shall wait until the PS4 is hacked.

----

o well who carezz...imma wait 4 the ps4 to be hacked..lmfao

 

[Ergo]

"A little bird told me" style of news without any real evidence? Yay! That's our favourite kind!

My sources say this thread will go well!


I can't either, for an array of completely different reasons.[

Sony's stock went up after XBox One's presentation partially due to the way Microsoft wants to approach used games - Sony would not be doing themselves a favour by preparing an equivalent system. It's safe to assume that the company is not managed by a hundred monkeys locked in cubicles, so I don't see this happening. They spoke of the used games situation on the PS4 ages ago - DRM is in the hands of the publishers and developers, just like it was with the PS3.

You have been paying attention to SONY Corp. for the last decade, right? I think it's fair to say that SONY *is* run by a hundred monkeys--a hundred monkeys that have brought a once-phenomenal company to the brink of dissolution, surviving, barely, on credit and having their bond rating at or near junk.

Furthermore, they punted on the used game question by giving us a cagey response that it's in pubs' hands, but that's just like region-locking was in pubs' hands on 360--how many companies actually abstained from that little bit of DRM? Effectively none, which is *exactly* how it will be on PS4 *IF* SONY offers the option.

(They are punting to the pubs because (they think*) it helps them sidestep the PR nightmare that MS is currently embroiled in by waving their hands and saying "it's not us!", even though they built back-end infrastructure to support it.)

This entire used games debacle is really bad business on many levels and the only rationale MS (and probably SONY) must have is people will just get used to it after the initial furor. (And they may be right, but they may also be chucking a huge chunk of the market away on a foolish gamble that only, in the end, benefits them...at least initially.)

(I'm also getting an intense feeling of deja vu, re: DRM, from another thread, not too long ago...)

*They're stupid: the average consumer is going to blame SONY for this even if it's only EA or only S-E or only 'x' company using it (it won't be 'only' anyone, and MS has made that even easier by allowing people to lump them both together.

 

[Foxi4]

*Snip!*

...you do know that Sony does more than just video game systems, right? They mostly suffer due to their other ventures, the gaming division actually began turning in profits quite some time ago.

 

[Ergo]

...you do know that Sony does more than just video game systems, right? They mostly suffer due to their other ventures, the gaming division actually began turning in profits quite some time ago.

This is so far disconnected from reality that I'm only going to say: a couple of years of profits on PS3 do not make up for billions upon billions of losses incurred due to years of running their game division so far into the red* it ate away *all* the profits from the PS1 and 2 combined. If that's your 'proof' that Sony's game biz isn't run by (badly) trained monkeys (the head of which for most of those years is now the president of Sony as a whole), you need to try a lot harder.

(Psst: Sony was able to float the company on profits from PS2 for a number of years when other divisions were bombing, but with the collapse of the gaming division circa PS3, that is exactly what brought Sony to its knees once their only useful division ate it due to overwhelming arrogance and stupidity.)

(Also: going from absolute market dominance, to clawing for a third place finish is a failure in anyones book, even if they had made a ton of money on it...which they didn't.

*And then the 'geniuses' in the exec suite at SCE gave us the...Vita. Which is an epic bomb, regardless of how you feel about its games, and another bullet in your 'b-b-but game division' 'argument'.

 

[Foxi4]

This is so far disconnected from reality that I'm only going to say: a couple of years of profits on PS3 do not make up for billions upon billions of losses incurred due to years of running their game division so far into the red it ate away *all* the profits from the PS1 and 2 combined. If that's your 'proof' that Sony's game biz isn't run by (badly) trained monkeys (the head of which for most of those years is now the president of Sony as a whole), you need to try a lot harder.

(Psst: Sony was able to float the company on profits from PS2 for a number of years when other divisions were bombing, but with the collapse of the gaming division circa PS3, that is exactly what brought Sony to its knees once their only useful division ate it due to overwhelming arrogance and stupidity.)

(Also: going from absolute market dominance, to clawing for a third place finish is a failure in anyones book, even if they had made a ton of money on it...which they didn't.

I'm not saying that they managed the PS3 situation very well - I'm saying that they're managing it well now, to such an extent that their last generation system still sells better than Nintendo's next generation one.

They're not idiots and they're not repeating the mistakes of the past - the PS3's launch price was a huge hurdle for early adopters so they made sure to announce the system as low-cost, the CELL was hard to develop for so they chose the easiest architecture to program for - the x86. They actually went door-to-door to consult game developers about what they'd want to see in their system.

The PS4 will undoubtedly be a successful system and Sony does take note of a sudden spike in their stock price - money speaks more than a thousand words and if not introducing such DRM as a standard gives them exactly that, they won't introduce it.

 

[XDel]

Great, hope they both go down. More hope that PC gaming will thrive once again as it should.

 

[IBNobody]

It wouldn't surprise me if Sony went and did this now that Microsoft did it. It may not be the right choice for the consumers, but it is the right choice for the publishers.

If the PS4 and XB1 are evenly matched for sales for the first few months and you were a publisher, would you publish your game on the console without used game DRM, or would you publish it on the console more lucrative used game DRM scheme?

I know that it isn't as black-and-white as this, but Sony IS leaving money on the table if they don't follow in Microsoft's footsteps.

 

[Gahars]

Spoiler: Geoff Keighley

More hope that PC gaming will thrive once again as it should.

Because it's not thriving right now? Are we looking at the same PC gaming scene?

I'm more than skeptical of this news myself. It may well be true, but without anything to substantiate the claim, we'd probably be best holding out judgement until we hear from Sony itself on the subject.

 

[XDel]

I've no idea man, I don't really follow the market place. Seems to me the market place is rarely ruled by logic anyhow.

Spoiler: Geoff Keighley

Because it's not thriving right now? Are we looking at the same PC gaming scene?

I'm more than skeptical of this news myself. It may well be true, but without anything to substantiate the claim, we'd probably be best holding out judgement until we hear from Sony itself on the subject.