Following last week's unbelievably disastrous console unveiling, everyone's attention strayed from the anti-consumer measures being touted by the Xbox One and it firmly landed on its arch-rival the PS4. Why were people concerned and worried about the PS4? Because many gamers are now worried that perhaps the leap from the Xbox One's used game fee(s) to the PS4 is not so far fetched and despite Sony confirming that used games could be played on the PS4, it was never clarified if there would be additional fees to do so.
Well, new information from several sources are now claiming that Sony has been eying the crap-storm that followed the Xbox One out of the gate after key executives at Microsoft spilled the beans, and word around the block is that Sony will be axing any used game DRM policies following the consumer outrage.
Gematsu gathered quite the information bubble and laid out the possibility of the PlayStation 4 completely forgoing any sort of used game restriction at all.
The report points to several sources on NeoGaf – a forum site often used by employees of the gaming industry, either anonymously or conspicuously (and sometimes even viral marketers) – and one member had this to say about the PS4's used game DRM...
The jist of it is that Sony is listening to the backlash that Microsoft (MS) is getting and they are basing decisions off of this,” ... “I would assume MS is also, but I don’t know that for sure. But I can say, for sure, that the past week’s PR nightmare for MS has not been lost on Sony and they, in fact, do have a used game ‘solution’ working and have been going back and forth for months on whether to use it. This past week is pushing them strongly into ‘Yeah, let’s not use that.’ ”
So what makes this guy's post noteworthy? Well, because he has some follow-up information that you might want to read up on before making any final conclusions. In another NeoGaf post he writes...
“I just heard on Friday that [the used games DRM] wasn’t [coming]. I didn’t want to come right out and post about it because leak-y individuals like myself are getting a bit too much attention. and I don’t care about myself, but I’m not really looking to get my friends into trouble. But I’ve confirmed it with a second person so I got dumb and posted it.”
It's not just idle twaddle and digital prattle to pass around from forum board to gaming websites, the posts above come with a message: Make it clear to Sony that you DO NOT want any form of DRM in place to prevent used games on the PlayStation 4.
The NeoGaf poster tossed out the following Twitter accounts and wants YOU the gaming community to make it known to Sony's head honchos that the PS4 should be a DRM-free console. Send a brief message to one or all of the following individuals using the hashtags #PS4NoDRM and #PS4USEDGames.
Sony is listening, so make your voices heard!
Shuhei Yoshida (@yosp) – President, SCE Worldwide Studios.
John Koller (@jpkoller) – Head of Hardware Marketing, SCEA.
Guy Longworth (@luckylongworth) - Senior Vice President of Marketing and PlayStation Network, SCEA.
Scott Rohde (@rohdescott) - SVP of Product Development, SCE Worldwide Studios America, SCEA.
