Can Platform holders really block the usage of pre-owned games, and wouldn’t it even help them in the end? Whether it happens on the launch of a better-gen or later into its life, there isn’t any doubt that publishers are subtly shifting towards blocking games or require an ‘always-on’ DRM (you simply ought to study EA’s The Sims to grasp what issues can arise).

What does the industry think?

Michael Pachter, Gaming Research Analyst, Wedbush Securities

“I think that Sony might make a near fatal mistake if it chooses to dam used games, tilting the playing field sharply in Microsoft’s favour. i am hoping Microsoft doesn’t waste this chance to teach how gamer friendly it’s by advertising that the hot Xbox will play used games.”

Walid Miled, Associate Producer, Spiders Studio

“By [implementing second-hand blocks] they only kill every method to lower the costs for games and cause them to available to everyone.”

“I think that’s something stupid, actually. That’s my standpoint. I live in France, and in France, when compared with the united kingdom, game prices are very high. i am unable to stand paying “70 for a game.”

“That’s an issue to me, because everyone must be allowed to get the sport in the future of their life, not wait three years to get the sport. So rebuying a game [second hand] is an effective way.

“I don’t believe it was killing the market that much. Not up to piracy.”

X360′s opinion…

It’s a rumour that have been attached to kind of every new console within the last decade, and now, because the next generation of hardware looms large at the horizon, the problem of manufacturers potentially

prohibiting using pre-owned games is back. But while that’s perfectly obvious why publishers might see this as an appealing concept, additionally it is the type of factor that can decide the winner of the following-gen battle before it has even begun.

Say, as an instance, that Sony implemented one of these system just like the one it has reportedly patented, preventing games from getting used on anything however the system they were first played on.

The ramifications will be huge; as well as crushing the pre-owned market, borrowed games would not work on anything however the original console, rentals could be equally ruined or even upgrading to a brand new machine would wipe out your complete existing game collection.

Unless every competitor did the similar thing – which Wii U doesn’t and open platform PC never will – most gamers would surely turn their backs at the new machine in favour of a more flexible, user-friendly alternative.

Publishers might just like the idea of greater sell-through of recent products, though we’d question whether such restrictions wouldn’t just shrink the user base and make triple-A releases less profitable.

We are not even sure that preventing use on a couple of console would truly be legal.

Last year, a ecu court ruled against a developer’s right to stop the resale of digital games (theoretically, all of your XBLA library is yours to sell if you wish to – there’s just no physical way of doing it), so there’s precedent for the law being at the consumer’s side.

Even whether it is legal, it surely still won’t happen: it’d be commercial suicide for any platform holder to place out an intentionally less- functional product than its rivals.