Sony Anti-Used Game Patent Leads to GameStop Share Value Drop

The shares of retail giant GameStop are affected by the news that Sony might be investigating a method to prevent used game sales for the upcoming PlayStation 4 home gaming consoles.

Shares for the big video game specialist retail chain went down by about 5 percent during trading on Thursday.

The new patent from Sony seeks to use a Near Field Communications solution to make sure that all the video games linked to the PS4 are new when they are first used.

Another potential cause for the slide in share value at GameStop is the recent announcement that the company sold less Nintendo Wii U consoles than expected during the crucial Christmas shopping season last year.

Sony has neither commented on the NFC patent nor offered official info on the PlayStation 4.