Despite it seeming like DRM wouldn’t be an issue on the PS4, Sony Computer Entertainment America president Jack Tretton has today said that “The DRM decision for third-party games will be up to publishers”
This of course leaves the way clear for publishers to lock down the trading in of titles. Speaking to GTTV this afternoon, Tretton was asked what would happen should a publisher ask to implement control over the trading in of it’s games and replied: “We’ve certainly stated that with our first party games we’re not going to be doing that, but we welcome publishers and their business models to our platform. There’s going to be free-to-play, there’s going to be every potential business model on there, and again that’s up to their relationship with the consumer and whether they think it’s in the best stead, so we’re not going to dictate that, we’re going to give them a platform to publish on.” He then went on: “The DRM decision is going to have to be in the hands of the third parties, that’s not something we’re going to dictate or control or mandate or implement.”
This certainly goes against the impression the company gave last night and levels the field as regard the issue with the Xbox One. But is it really something to fear? When you bought FIFA 13 or Battlefield 3 and wanted to play online you entered the code in the manual to get an online pass. This of course was only usable once and as a result if the game was traded in, the person who bought it would have to pay a fee to use it online.
No doubt this will rumble on as the weeks go by. -GC
