Sony officially announced the PlayStation 4 last week, and though its software offerings left many scratching their heads (including yours truly), the company at least seemed to confirm the PS4 will play used games.
Much rejoicing followed, especially after journalists unearthed a Sony patent describing technology capable of blocking second-hand games.
Lately, though, there's been a lot of confusion around the subject. Cryptic comments from multiple Sony representatives are raising the possibility that even if the PlayStation 4 can play used titles, it may require an activation fee of some sort before that would be possible.
This whole situation started the day after the PlayStation 4 event. In an interview with Eurogamer, one of Sony's top executives, Shuhei Yoshida, stated simply, "Used games can play on PS4."
Great. Sure, he had to confirm what he said with a rep before saying anything, but whatever. Fantastic. As Wired reports today, however, why won't anyone else say the same thing?
When Game Informer asked Sony to clarify in a separate statement, the company sent out the statement, "We are just now announcing the basic vision and strategy of PS4 and will have more information to share regarding used games later this year. But PlayStation has a long history of keeping its gamers happy and we won't make decisions that damage our relationship with them."
On top of that, here's a fresh quote from Sony published Feb. 26: "Well first of all, we haven't stated that second-hand games ... we haven't made a statement on the second-hand games question. The answer to the pre-owned question isn't clarified just yet and we're working through that and we'll announce our position in more detail as and when we can."
Hmm. Considering that one of Sony's top executives already made a statement on second-hand games, these quotes shouldn't fill anyone with confidence.
It's possible Sony plans to try and monetize the used-games market by blocking second-hand titles from functioning until a user pays an activation fee. It's also possible that, as a way to please the game industry, GameStop will include the activation fee in its used games prices and send a cut of that sale to publishers.
Or maybe Yoshida misspoke and the PS4 won't allow used games at all; but that scenario doesn't seem likely. Sony probably wants to build as much goodwill among gamers as possible, especially considering recent rumblings that Microsoft's new system won't play used titles. If that's true, it could help Sony lure a bunch of gamers upset over the policy.
At this point, though, only time will tell. Because Sony surely won't.
