Sony Patents One-Account Disks

[Brian]

http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/01/03/report-new-sony-patent-blocks-second-hand-games

So the war against the second-hand gaming market has gotten to this....

[Anastasia]

Fuck Sony.

That's the short version and what the long version boils down to. Way to treat the fans and consumers of your product like shit. We can't have rights, except for those we purchase for $49.99; but remember only one person can use each right you buy.

[Halbarad]

To play devil's advocate here... this isn't all that different from what Steam or other digital distribution models do. You pay a flat rate for the game (maybe a sale rate, but still), download it, and it's permanently linked to the account used to purchase (or redeem, in the case of a gift) the game.

In this case, they're just forcing the physical media sale to mimic the behavior of an online sale, since there's no way for you to resell something you bought or redeemed on Steam. Steam itself is a hugely successful example of that model actually working and working well.

That isn't to say that Sony isn't going to screw it up if they try it and piss off their consumers, since they don't exactly have the greatest track record in the world as far as that goes. Part of the reason that Steam is so successful is because of the sales and promotions they run, and I can see Sony being arrogant enough to say "people pay $60 for our games, they've always paid $60 for our games, therefore our games will always be $60."

If they're willing to follow Steam's business model, though, and provide occasional sales and discounts for games - maybe not the latest and greatest, but no one really does that - this could work out fine. But I still think this is more a step in the direction of moving away from physical media entirely and getting people used to the way a digital distro model works without pulling the rug out from under them completely.

[Brian]

In this case, they're just forcing the physical media sale to mimic the behavior of an online sale,

That is true.  But if I am going to buy something that will behave like a Steam item, I will just buy it on Steam instead of giving Sony my money.

I like consoles for the tangibility and tradability of games.  Who doesn't recall trading NES/GBA/whatever carts with their friends as a kid?  What will happen to, "Borrow this and check it out!"  If I want an online/virtual product, I'll get it.

If I want a tangible I can feel like I genuinely own, I expect to %$#@ing _own_ it.

[Iron Dragoon]

To play devil's advocate here... this isn't all that different from what Steam or other digital distribution models do.

Actually, it really is different. Steam links your purchase to an account, which you can sign into from any PC. Meaning if you upgrade your PC, you don't lose access to your games.

What Sony just did links your game to a physical component/player. And if anything should happen to that player and you get a new one, you're basically S.O.L. According to that article, at least.

The other problem is that a lot of console games are group activities. When I was in the military and overseas, everyone had a PS3, but different games. We'd get four or five people together, bring games over, and have a good time.

Now instead of bringing games over, we'd have to bring four or five separate consoles over. Anyone who's ever had to swap cables more than twice will tell you it gets old. Fast.

I can see what they *want* to do (or at least I think I can), and linking fallible physical components together is not the way to do it. If it were like steam, where it's just a simple account link and log in, that's one thing (and makes use of their Playstation Network). But being forced to drag my PS3 (or whatever device this shows up on) back and forth is not an attractive prospect. 

[Brian]

Actually, it really is different. Steam links your purchase to an account, which you can sign into from any PC. Meaning if you upgrade your PC, you don't lose access to your games.

The Sony technology is supposed to link your disk to your account, actually.

Which, now that I think about it, actually screws you over more when you need to replace your disk than anything else.

[Jason_Miao]

I am a patent examiner, and that's kind of close to my field, so discussing the patentability of subject matter of the patent itself is probably not something I ought to do.



I will point out that this is a "patent application", and not a patent itself as the linked article has implied.  If this has been done before, or is obvious in 2013, it is possible that Sony won't get a patent for it.

[Grahf]

I would think that if Sony is going to pursue things this far then they honestly might as well develop a digital content only system for the next Playstation. It would get them a lot less consumer backlash than what even the possibility of this kind of treatment has already created.

The problem stems from something that's been mentioned in nearly every single conversation I've read on the subject: if you're going to pay for a disc, then you should be able to turn around and sell that disc sometime in the future without issue. By impeding that process if they get this patent and then develop the technology, Sony is messing with something that they might not have liked, but that gamers have used and enjoyed for years. Not a good way to earn or keep many fans.

[Jason_Miao]

The problem stems from something that's been mentioned in nearly every single conversation I've read on the subject: if you're going to pay for a disc, then you should be able to turn around and sell that disc sometime in the future without issue.

That's the first sale doctrine in a nutshell.  That's a copyright issue, of course, and it's one in front of the Supreme Court right now (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/30/business/supreme-court-hears-copyright-case-on-imported-textbooks.html?_r=0).  It would funny in the abstract if Sony implemented this technology, and then was required by law to break it so that the game rental industry could exist.

[Dracos]

Mmm.

I don't know for sure as my google isn't finding proof, but I would suspect that sony has at least one manufacturing factory for their products in the states.  Which would mean that foreign import discussions wouldn't have any bearing on some of the product in the market, since it would be manufactured here and sold here, even if designed abroad.

Mmm.