The rumor that Sony plans on blocking used games with the Playstation 4 has been around before but was given more validity Thursday with the discovery of a patent application filed in early December.
The patent was found NeoGAF member "gofreak" and links a game disk to an individual console and will not allow the disk to work on any other console. This is accomplished with a tag and unique ID that is stored on the disk which is read by the game console in a manner similar to NFC technology seen with credit cards or even "Skylanders". The tag ties the disk ID and console ID together. If the console ID doesn't match what is stored, the disk won't play.
The document for the patent explains that employing this mechanism can eliminate the second-hand market for games.
At first glance, employing this patent in a console would all but eliminate the rental market for games as well but the patent does allow for a number of temporary uses to be determined by the manufacturer of the disk. Additionally, there is the possibility that someone who own multiple Playstation 4s will be able to play the game on their additional consoles. The patent describes using a unique identifier for the owner such as a password, fingerprint or iris to allow for additional console uses.
This is all just rumor for now but solving the used-game dilemma has been a constant exercise in experimentation this generation. A solution such as this would eliminate the need for "Online Passes" but would introduce a whole new set of consumer-unfriendly problems.
For what it's worth, Sony Computer Entertainment of America CEO Jack Tretton stated in May of last year that he was "totally opposed to blocking used games" according to Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pacther. However, he did note that the Sony Japan executives may have a different view.
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Via: NeoGAF, FreePatentsOnline
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