---BREAKAWAY CIVILIZATION ---ALTERNATIVE HISTORY---NEW BUSINESS MODELS--- ROCK & ROLL 'S STRANGE BEGINNINGS---SERIAL KILLERS---YEA AND THAT BAD WORD "CONSPIRACY"--- AMERICANS DON'T EXPLORE ANYTHING ANYMORE.WE JUST CONSUME AND DIE.---
A newly published patent application filed by Sony outlines a
content protection system that would use small RFID chips embedded on
game discs to prevent used games from being played on its systems, all
without requiring an online connection. Filed in September and still
awaiting approval from the US Patent Office, the patent application
for an "electronic content processing system, electronic content
processing method, package of electronic content, and use permission
apparatus" describes a system "that reliably restricts the use of
electronic content dealt in the second-hand markets."
Used game sales continue to be a major concern for many big-name
publishers and developers, who see the practice as a drain on the
revenue they earn from selling new software. Sony's patent explicitly
points out that suppressing the used game market will "[support] the
redistribution of part of proceeds from sales of the electronic content
to the developers."
The used-game blocking method described in the patent involves a
"radiofrequency tag" and a type of programmable ROM chip that are paired
with each game disc and can communicate wirelessly with the game
system. The tag and chip can be used to store "unique information" about
each console the game has been played on. Thus, when the game is used
on a second system, the unique information stored on the disc can be
compared to the information stored inside the new hardware, and in turn
checked against "use permission" data stored on the EEPROM chip itself.
As described in the patent, this "unique information" could be a system
identifier or some sort of unique user ID that is somewhat portable
between systems.
The patent describes users being asked to "pass the use permission
tag over the RF reader/writer," suggesting some sort of near-field
communication (NFC) area on the system itself that is used to launch
this confirmation process. The patent also describes the RFID tag being
used to decrypt content on the disc, which could provide a method for
locking certain on-disc content to certain users who have unlocked or
paid for the privilege. The system would theoretically also make game
discs much harder to pirate, since illicit copiers would have to include
correctly configured security chips in their copies, rather than using
off the shelf media.
Of course, the fact that Sony has applied to patent this idea is a
far cry from confirmation that this kind of protection system is in the
works for the PlayStation 4. Even if it is, Sony could easily leave it
to individual publishers to decide whether or not to implement it. In
May, industry analyst Michael Pachter recounted a conversation with SCEA president Jack Tretton where the Sony executive said he was "totally opposed to blocking used games."
It was about this time last year that rumors started to swirl that
Microsoft was planning to block used games from being playable on the
next Xbox. In March, similar rumors popped up surrounding the PlayStation 4, codenamed "Orbis" in leaked documents.
At the time, we examined some potential technical methods
for implementing this used-game blocking, including the kind of
disc-linked solution being discussed in this patent. While this kind of
resale-blocking technology would seemingly run afoul of the first sale
doctrine codified into US law, legal experts seem unsure
about whether that doctrine would be enough to overcome the end-user
license agreements common to video game sales. After all, the practice
of restricting game resale is already taking root through the wide
adoption of digital distribution, which prevents players from reselling
downloadable games in almost all cases.
Now that Sony's patent has proven that the company is thinking about whether it could block used game sales, the question from the company's point of view becomes whether or not it should.
While a total technical ban on used game sales across an entire console
would have an effect on the market for new games, it's far from clear
what that effect would be. The availability of cheaper used games does
discourage people from picking up new games (GameStop alone sells
roughly $2 billion in used games each year), but the money or store
credit players get from selling used games is usually plowed right back into buying more games,
many of which are sold new. In a world in which all used video game
sales were blocked through technical means, the new game market would
quickly reach a new equilibrium of supply and demand for titles that are
locked to a single system.
In the end, Sony's decision of whether or not to implement the idea
outlined in this patent application will probably come down to the
collective weight of two countervailing forces. On one side, there are
the developers and publishers lobbying for tighter controls to protect
their markets. On the other, there are players who might not be too keen
on buying a system that can't play secondhand games (or on buying games
that they'll never be able to resell).
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