This shouldn't be a shock to anyone but just a reminder that just because Sony says that they won't enforce any kind of DRM on used games themselves, that doesn't mean that publishers can't use their own methods.

There's nothing stopping companies like EA or Activision from enacting the same policies that we're going to see on the Xbox One with their games on the PS4. Jack (motherfucking) Tretton said on GameTrailers today:

"Well, I mean, we create the platform, we've certainly stated that our first-party games are not going to be doing that, but we welcome publishers and their business models to our platform. There's gonna be free-to-play, there's gonna be every potential business model on there, and again, that's up to their relationship with the consumer, what do they think is going to put them in the best fit. We're not going to dictate that, we're gonna give them a platform to publish on.

The DRM decision is going to have to be answered by the third parties, it's not something we're going to control, or dictate, or mandate, or implement."

We were all too drunk on Tretton to realize the dark truth!

This is the way the world ends.

Eagerly awaiting to see what Atlus does because f'em for P4A.

Oh well we are all fucked then, it was a nice 12 hours of happiness.

Does that mean I can't play third party games online or would it be just an online pass? Cause I would live with an online pass

Fucking brilliant.

Didn't MS say their first party games would have no used restrictions? I remember reading/hearing something like that.

So how its been for the past 5 years? Alright, Im cool with that.

As expected, still for publishers on XboxOne it isn't possible to not have online check-ins. I like an open platform where publishers can decide themselvers (good or bad)

At least it give consumers a choice. I can easily avoid the ones that enforce DRM (EA)

It's the exact same system as on the current consoles.

Thing is unlike Xbox one it doesn't have an online infrastructure in place that already checks you every 24hours.

Well this makes things easy for me, I'll just wont buy their games!

I doubt this will be anything as harsh as the One's 24 hour check in, probably at best it will be an online pass for most games like we have now.

"Well, I mean, we create the platform, we've certainly stated that our first-party games are not going to be doing that, but we welcome publishers and their business models to our platform," Tretton said.

What was that five minute speech even about then?

Jack Tretton said specifically that Sony wouldn't impose any new restrictions. Which is exactly what this is--publishers have the ability to dictate their own DRM on current-gen platforms. This practice will carry over to PS4.

The way they said it in their conference makes me think that the status quo when it comes to used games policy will be what we get with them so season passes, or day-1 DLC type things, or possibly a slightly more beefed up version of that. Which honestly, I could live with in comparison to the restrictions Microsoft want to impose.

@uppercaseccc: Well EA games got rid of the online pass altogether for a reason. They will implement the same restrictions as they will on xbox one, except maybe the 24 hour checks.

@somejerk said:

There were very specific circumstances that lead to that happening. (Ones I suspect they will try to avoid entirely in the future.) There's no reason to believe they're going to start DRMing all their games just because they can.

It's kind of hard to blame Sony for this. Enacting a system wide policy of no DRM would be suicide. The choice would have been easy for a lot of publishers. "Fuck you, we're not making games for the PS4 then." They did the best they could do within what was reasonably possible.

Or...maybe they just want it to appear that way and they already knew that all the major publishers would have their own DRM policies anyway but this allows them to look like the good guys. It's all big, dirty business.

This is how you pass the buck. Gee, I wonder what EA will do. Oh well! At least it's only $399.

Nothing Sony can do if they implement something to replace the online pass. They could even make you activate online with their own servers. What they can't so is make the PS4 check online every x hours - that has to be built in on a system level.

@eternalvigil said:

Yes I assume they will remain roughly the same.

Online pass I am guessing

How is that different from today ?

If the game is not locked to your account on the system level, how much can they even do ?

Sony made essentially the same move as MS, except they have no messy platform-wide stuff to explain or manage. Despite whatever we attribute to the console makers, it's up to the publishers to blink and set precedents.

@alternate: Or, since the console is not checking every 24 hours, the game now has to check online every time it starts up. Trade a 24 hour check in for an "on start" check in.

@alternate: but hopefully you will still be able to trade in all your ps4 games to gamestop still and there is no reason why not right now unless publishes own personal DRM is weird enough that it checks a disc for online verification.

So wait this is essentially the exact same thing as MS except no 24 hour check in? I mean, in practice the 24 hour thing isn't really that big of a deal. It's the principle. So far that and the price is how Sony offers a better console.

But you're right. Maybe Microsoft will be right. They are offering a very similar service as Steam and look how good that is.

https://twitter.com/deliciousbees/status/344507360959668224

"Publishers can do what they want" is different from "All games have to go through and be verified on our licensing system". Chill.

Alright that's fine. *Exhales

LOL

To be fair, the specific circumstances were Atlus wanting the highest amount of money they could make from the game. The region lock was simply to stop Japanese players from importing the vastly cheaper US version. They can just not put in Japanese voices and text in other versions next time and they won't need to region lock it, but I could easily see them doing it again.

Everyone over reacting over nothing.

Exact same situation as it is now - and at most it means if jive turkeys want to implement an online pass, they can

jesus christ you guys can never be happy with something

This is how it works on PC for decades ranging from the old fashion code wheel to more draconian systems. But the key thing to realize is that if the platform doesn't enforce a system that means a developer can chose one that suits them include "none". This isn't "Field of Dreams" but it is a lot better than forcing everything to conform to a system that doesn't make sense for a lot of games.

You can still download games on PS4 too.

So... how it's been for years now?

That makes sense, and makes last night's claim about used games pretty hollow. Sony's playing along with the pubs after all. Kinda sleazy to get everyone so heated and then admit it's all up to the pubs the next day. Tretton I was kinda likin' you man, but now. :(

This is already how it is on current gen consoles, can't be upset about that.

The major difference is Xbox One's infrastructure (online connectivity every 24 hours AND requirement to install every game), is tailored to institute some form of authentication for each game. It forces the consumer to buy and play games the way Microsoft says they should buy and play games.

Sony's open platform for the PS4 says hey, consumers, you decide how you want to game. If you want to buy a disc-based game and trade it in after you are done, go for it. If you want to download the game to your account, go for it. If you want to avoid DRM games (instituted by the publisher), then don't buy those games, we have plenty of other non-DRM games in our library. It is up to you.

I don't buy any EA games anyway.

exactly, im just glad it doesnt have the full dependency on the internet that microsoft is saying you need to even play your games.

The difference here is that its not built into the thing on a system level. I only really see the big companies like EA and Ubisoft requiring this stuff.

Makes sense, they wouldn't have been able to dictate that sort of shit to publishers.

I find it funny that you take comfort in pure speculation that random people on game forum came up with.

Not saying they are wrong or right just weird that you trust these guys that much.

People saw this and still thought Sony would allow DRM? It's like the paywall opinions changing but this is literally overnight.

My point was that Steam has a lot of restrictions and is doing fine.

I understand that this news only means that publishers can still enact online passes as is custom today on current-gen systems but somehow, for reasons I can't pinpoint, it still is some sort of a buzzkill on what Sony said in their presscon.