#PS4NoDRM: Xbox One Backlash Might’ve Changed Sony’s Mind on Used Games “Solution”
#PS4NoDRM and #PS4USEDGAMES may be two hashtags you’ve come across recently if you happen to follow a huge group of, specifically, pro-Sony, avid gaming Twitter activists. If not, hunker on down — I’ve a tale to weave.
Sony’s been experiencing a heightened amount of positive press lately, and their ace-in-the-sleeve tactic has been to simply kick back and allow rival Microsoft to fire round after round into their own foot. Microsoft’s new console is catching flack and it’s not just because the Xbox One burst onto the scene with barely any games to show and an unhealthy fixation on TV.
The gaming community at large is pretty miffed about rumors and confusing, alarm-raising statements regarding Xbox One’s used game contingencies — namely, the one that tethers purchased titles to a single profile, forcing others to buy a sort of license to unlock a disc’s content.
Sony, on the other hand, has stated the PS4 will be able to play used games…but it’s important to pay attention to the fact that that’s all they’ve said. As Bonus Round’s Geoff Keighley puts it, Sony is being painted as the “white knight,” when really, we may being giving them a smidge too much credit for what’s been said instead of focusing on the details they haven’t been open about. The perception is that Sony is not restricting used games in any way, but Keighley doesn’t figure that to be the whole picture. “Based on some of the things I’m hearing, I don’t think that’s entirely true.”
We’re going to dip into rumor-y waters right about here, but the source in question — a NeoGaf user, of course, and potential insider — hit the nail on the head with predictions made about February’s PS4 reveal. The user now claims Sony has had a used games “solution” in mind for months now and have held their hand over a big, red DRM-shaped button, wondering if they should push it.
“The past week’s PR nightmare for MS has not been lost on Sony,” says the NeoGaf user, adding, “They are basing decisions off of this…
“This past week is pushing them strongly into ‘Yeah, let’s not use that.’”
The user — FamousMortimer if you were wondering — also cautions a guess that Microsoft is likely asking themselves the same hard questions given the — let’s be honest — terrible goddamn reception the Xbox One has received. When it comes to used games, the publisher-retailer-consumer ladder is lousy with slippery rungs and people haphazardly hanging off the side, shouting, “Where’s my cut?!” But in answering the next generation’s used game question, Sony and Microsoft need to assert whether or not the consumer is at the top of that ladder or all the way at the bottom.