News May 14, 2012

SCEA president 'would oppose' PS4's pre-owned ban

0 comments

The highly controversial rumors that next-gen consoles could contain technology that blocks pre-owned games from being played is the "dumbest rumor" industry analyst Michael Pachter has ever heard, and claims to have heard from SCEA president Jack Tretton that he "completely opposes" blocking used games.

Sony Computer Entertainment America's Jack Tretton thinks "it would be anti-consumer" for the next generation consoles, particularly the PlayStation 4, to block access to games purchased second-hand, according to Pachter, who claims to have discussed the rumor with Tretton at a pre-E3 meeting.

“Tretton told me that, for the record, he’s completely opposed to blocking used games,” Pachter said. Tretton also purportedly said that "maybe Japan thinks different" on the matter, inferring that the PlayStation division in Tokyo may still be considering implementing this anti-pre-owned technology in the PS4.

Obviously, you don't need to hear from Pachter that this is a bad idea. I'm pretty sure every consumer in the world thinks implementing this form of anti-used tech is in agreement with Tretton. In the past several weeks, we've heard various reports claiming that console manufacturers are considering blocking second-hand games from being played on the PS4 and Xbox 720. To these rumors, both consumers and analysts say the next-gen console sales would suffer. Gamers have been quick to renounce any console even associated with the idea of blocking used games.

[GameTrailers, Develop]

Tags: PS4, Xbox 720