Gamers are standing up and saying "no" to DRM for the next-generation consoles.
It started after rumors that Microsoft's Xbox One would include DRM for used games, which generated more rumors that Sony might do the same thing with the PlayStation 4. And the campaign just keeps rolling along and gaining steam.
It began in the NeoGAF forums and now has its own website . Thus far, the movement has already garnered over 175 media mentions in 20 different languages, and "Phase 2" begins Wednesday, June 5 at 8 a.m. EST. This campaign includes both Sony's PlayStation 4 and Microsoft's Xbox One. However, the good news is that according to CinemaBlend , we missed something critical from Sony game boss Shuhei Yoshida…
As you can see, there will be no used game DRM for the PS4. And as a brief summary: The PS4 doesn't have to be online to play games offline, there will be no registration fees, pay-walls or Internet registration required for pre-owned games, and you will always have multiple purchase options. However, third-parties can still implement DRM plans, so it's important to remain vigilant throughout the year.
Nobody wants DRM. It's basically that simple.
stupid question…but what exactly does DRM stand for?
Digital Rights Management
alternately, Digital Restrictions Management because all it's for is to restrict your use of what you bought.
It's just simple greed. Just imagine Toyota wanted a profit from used cars? It doesn't affect me because I always buy new games but the majority wins here.
Just a quick comment, even though I'm sure no one will read this: The "used car" anaology, or "used anything" really, doesn't really apply here.
In all other aspects, "used" carries the connotation of "degraded". The first sale doctrine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-sale_doctrine) makes sense for most things because, aside from the legal hasslement of having to deal with the original copyright holder every time you wanted to sell something you bought, it made sense that anything you sold second-hand woul be degraded to some degree and hence worth less than the original copy-righted work. If I buy a book, then sell that book to someone, it will degrade, and it will be further degraded when that person sells that book to someone else, etc, etc. Same thing for cars, and most physical objects.
However, software is different. Software never degrades when transferred. It also doesn't suffer any degradation when distributed repeatedly (compare the old days of bootleg anime tapes, which were often dubs of dubs of dubs). Thus, there is the argument that the first sale doctrine shouldn't apply, or else be re-tooled, for software. And while in the days of CD and even DVDs, physical copies could certainly degrade, so used games carried a bit of risk, modern Blueray discs are extremely resistant to scratches, and thus even used Bluerays are effectively "new".
Going forward, this takes the "problem" that has always existed where retailers earn money on used game sales and exacerbates it: If used Bluerays are -effectively- the same as new, then there's really zero penalty for buying used, thus reducing the need to buy new ever again. I can see why Microsoft (and Sony, make no mistake about it, cause it irks them too) and developers would want a way, if not to eliminate the problem, to at least ameliorate it such that they get a piece of the profits earned. After all, a developer makes money off a sold game ONCE. Gamestop makes money off of that same game by selling it MULTIPLE times and they didn't even make it!
tl;dr: If used cars were in the exact same condition as new with no degradation, you can be damn sure that Toyota (and other car manufacturers) would have done something about it by now.
Phase 2? Some random jackass on a forum thinks he can stop DRM! Thanks for the laugh.
That 'jackass' is responsible for a campaign that has been been covered by over 170 media outlets, has 100,000s of tweets, and continues to gain steam. With the big bosses of Sony themselves, acknowledging it.
That 'jackass' might just save you some money next-gen.
I'm proud of the gaming populace coming together to at least fight this menace. Maybe we can't win forever, but I'm in favor of old world values: no matter what license you put in there when I buy it I own it.
Third party devs better be paying attention too.
Sony's forcing devs to include remote play but then get vague about third parties using DRM? Why not just say they cannot use it on their system at all?
How can they stop them from doing it though?
I mean, I don't even know how they can make sure they implement remote play, besides a clause in their publishing contracts.
Besides, it's a smart move by Sony, if they don't have in-box DRM, and put the responsibility solely on the publishers, then it makes Sony seem like the good guy, and makes the publishers look bad.
How can they do them?? They just tell them 'no DRM is allowed on our system'
So you're ok with them allowing DRM as long as Sony it's perceived as 'the good guy'? Why not want them to actually take a stand for the gamers that the profess to love? Their double speak is disheartening. At least MS will tell us right to our faces that they are doing, even if we disagree. I kind of respect that more than the gutless PR talk from Sony.
The two big publishers pushing this with MS are Ubisoft and EA. DO I have proof no, but I'm sure it is a safe assessment to make since they are the two biggest whiners about used games.
@UbiEaActisuck
EA announced that it was dropping online passes the week before the Xbone reveal so the timing can't be a coincidence.
Last edited by Kryten1029a on 6/4/2013 3:12:59 AM