Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter says there’s no way the PS4 or the Xbox 720 will ban used games.
Both consoles have been rumored to incorporate technology that will be able to recognize whether or not a game disc has ever been put in another system before.
The more recent spotlight was on the PS4, which is still heavily shrouded in mystery and no one believes that Sony will reveal anything official about the system for at least 15 months or so.
According to the rumors, as quoted by unnamed sources, the new Playstation will have technology built in that blocks used games from working. In other words, once you pop in a PS4 game into the system, the console will create a one-to-one relationship between that copy of the game and the system.
This same issue has been rumored with the Xbox 360’s successor, and there have been rumblings on both sides of the aisle. One important note is that pulling such a maneuver would be a huge slap in the face to Gamestop, which directly provides millions of dollars in revenue to Sony and Microsoft and is a very strong partner for both companies.
Pachter, one of the most influential gaming analysts, said in a GamesIndustry.biz interview, “It isn’t really in Sony’s or Microsoft’s best interests to block used games.”
He did, however, concede that it would be beneficial to some. “It would benefit Activision and EA slightly, and would hurt GameStop a great deal. If Sony unilaterally did this, I could see GameStop refusing to carry their console and sales of the PS4 would therefore suffer,” he said.
