Consoles: Used Games and their future

Console users have reason to be concerned about the details released today regarding Sony’s patent issued in September 2012.  The patent essentially has the potential to eliminate the used game market for Sony gaming consoles.  Quoting the patent,

A technology of digital rights management (DRM) is introduced to prevent the electronic content from being used unlimitedly. Typically, DRM is a technology for the prevention of the unlimited copy of electronic content. To this end, the inventor recognized that there are cases where it is difficult to suitably restrict the use of electronic content, stored in the recording medium like DVD and commercially traded.

Translated into plain English, it requires a usage code to be tied to the player account and the player’s device to run the hard copy of the game.  Gone would be the days of purchasing used games or renting them from sources such as Gamefly. 

Sony has not stated publically that this patent will be applied to the future, as of yet unannounced, PS4.  But it does raise all kinds of unanswered questions regarding the console and families:

• Do all members of the family have to purchase games individually?
• What about coop games that run off one disc?
• How does this DRM technology affect games downloaded onto the console directly from the Playstation Network?

Should Sony go through with implementation of this technology on the PS4 and not answer questions directly related to same household users, I would expect to see a severe decline in the market share of the Playstation console.  I understand that developers and manufacturers have concerns about not getting a percentage cut of the used game and rental game market, but truthfully there are better solutions.  Here are just a couple that spring to mind:

• Stop manufacturing needless discs and make all games immediately available for download – should reduce the cost to procure for the consumer and drastically reduce the used game market going forward
• Offer packages with tiered pricing, that allows a console to play any game in the Production Catalog for a year – i.e. Console access to EA Sports for $200 for a year
• If discs can’t go away (inconceivable to me but assuming), then drastically reduce the packaging and the price point, allowing more consumers to purchase games on a whim and not run the risk of burning $60 bucks on a crappy game.

Source

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