14 DAY TRIAL // Sony has emphasized that it won't change the used game policies of its PlayStation 4 and that it won't suddenly make the console require a constant online connection, so fans shouldn't worry about the company betraying their faith.
Without a doubt, one of the most popular announcements made at E3 2013 came from Sony, which confirmed that its PlayStation 4 will play used copies of a game and that it won't require a constant online connection or least periodic Internet checks, unlike Microsoft's Xbox One.
While some critics warned that Sony's announcements may have been made just to take advantage of Microsoft's harsh requirements, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe boss Jim Ryan emphasizes that the company won't back down on its stance.
Ryan talked with Metro and revealed that "these are our policies and we intend to stick by them."
He also mentioned that, while the lack of any sort of DRM (Digital Rights Management) imposed on used games might cause third-party developers or publishers to worry, the measure will mean more PlayStation 4 units are sold, which will draw developers towards the device.
"Publishers are our major partners, we talk to them on a very regular basis – we listen to what they say. At the end of the day they have to provide an account to their shareholders and the single biggest factor that influences whether they make money, on either individual titles or a portfolio, is the size of the installed base that they’re publishing on. And that dwarfs everything else."
Launching a game for a platform that sells lots of units is much more profitable than taking a cut out of used games sales for a console that isn't so popular, in Sony's view.
"Yes there is a certain common knowledge that there is unhappiness within the publishing community over the fact that they do not participate in the second-hand business. However, if you offer any publisher a choice between an installed base of X – where X is a very large number – with the status quo on the second-hand disc-based model or 50 per cent of X and some sort of putative cut of the second-hand business I can predict with 100 per cent certainty what they would take."
Both the PS4 and Xbox One will be released at the end of the year.