Sony Introduces 'PSN Pass' To Fight Used Game Sales [Slashdot]

[DP ServBot]

Gamasutra reports that Sony has introduced "PSN Pass" — one-time codes that will unlock complete online access for certain games. "The company didn't offer details on how used and rental players would access online features in these titles, but did clarify that first-party use of the passes will be decided on a game-by-game basis." The initiative is similar to the "Online Pass" that EA rolled out last year, and to Sony's own experiment with SOCOM 4. Sony's explanation for the Pass will probably leave you wishing Google Translate supported marketing-speak: "This is an important initiative as it allows us to accelerate our commitment to enhancing premium online services across our first party game portfolio."http://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png (http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fgames.slashdot.org%2Fsto ry%2F11%2F07%2F08%2F0459214%2FSony-Introduces-PSN-Pass-To-Fight-Used-Game-Sales%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfaceb ook) http://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png (http://twitter.com/home?status=Sony+Introduces+'PSN+Pass'+To+Fight+Us ed+Game+Sales%3A+http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2FomFX2u)

Read more of this story (http://games.slashdot.org/story/11/07/08/0459214/Sony-Introduces-PSN-Pass-To-Fight-Used-Game-Sales?utm_source=rss1.0&utm_medium=feed) at Slashdot.

http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/MWbUpj4wMX8y5ufXV6mrytL_eRg/0/di (http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/MWbUpj4wMX8y5ufXV6mrytL_eRg/0/da)
http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/MWbUpj4wMX8y5ufXV6mrytL_eRg/1/di (http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/MWbUpj4wMX8y5ufXV6mrytL_eRg/1/da)

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotGames/~4/eJ3-4hUWirc

More... (http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotGames/~3/eJ3-4hUWirc/Sony-Introduces-PSN-Pass-To-Fight-Used-Game-Sales)

[LaughingMAN.S9]

i buy most my games new anyway, pfft, dont care

[j_factor]

Personally, I don't care about online gaming that much, and by the time I get around to getting a game it's usually dead online anyway. I just hope this is limited to online play, and nobody's locked out of significant single-player game content.

[kupomogli]

I also buy all my games new if available so it doesn't matter. I'll be playing Uncharted 3 online though. Currently level 26 on the beta. Game is amazing. Online isn't going to last forever on a console title so online multiplayer DLC doesn't matter to me.

Except P2P. P2P with Online Pass would be BS as you wouldn't even be using their servers. P2P is PC only though(I think,) and if there were any games on consoles that supported it, once XBL or PSN shut down they'd be gone anyways.

[Icarus Moonsight]

I hope they badge this. Would be nice to know ahead of time the games that will be ridiculously cheap second hand. I like this, more cheap fun for me, eventually.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

PSN Plus members should get a discount on the online pass. Jus sayin.

[duffmanth]

Morons...

[heybtbm]

I'll take this over DRM any day.

That being said, I'm just waiting for the day I open a new game, enter the code and find out it doesn't work.

[kupomogli]

I'll take this over DRM any day.

That being said, I'm just waiting for the day I open a new game, enter the code and find out it doesn't work.

You still have that same game return policy if that happens.

[WCP]

I used to never buy my games new, at least the last 4 years or so that's been the case. Since switching over to PC gaming however, it's very difficult to buy used games, because of Steamworks, GFWL, and other DRM methods. It makes it a huge gamble to hope that a used PC game will actually install on your PC. There are some older PC games from 2007 and 2008, that you can buy used, and you can use them on multiple PC's, but it's still pretty much a crapshoot.

I buy new on PC, but I'm still as cheap as ever. I refuse to buy any game over $19, and that includes tax, shipping, everything. As much as I would love to play Battlefield 3, Skyrim, Rage and many other big-time new releases, I simply watch them float on by, and wait for the day when I can get it during a Steam sale, or a GamersGate sale, o what-have-you. Most of the games I buy are 6 bucks or less. I recently got Fallout 3 GOTY edition for $10.19, but that's way more than I normally spend.


Sorry to get so off topic, heh...

[exit]

Considering most games go on sale pretty quickly, I really don't see how this is that big of a deal, just wait a few weeks and K-Mart will have the game for $30.

[geezuzkhrist119]

god damnt fucking EA. they started this bullshit and now everyone is jumping aboard the online pass train. so fuck them even more.

[Boltorano]

Fallout 3 GOTY edition for $10.19

I almost went for this, but then I remembered that I already purchased the Collector's Edition and GOTY Edition in box, but I hate Games for Windows Live that much that I almost gave Bethesda some money a 3rd time.

For a game that I never really liked that much.

[pixelsnpolygons]

It won't have any impact on me. I don't really play online that much and any game I would play online would be purchased new on launch day. I'm actually pretty happy to sit back and watch this battle play out.

[Sabz5150]

You still have that same game return policy if that happens.

Expect that to change, especially when its that code that is the bread and butter, not the physical disc.

[The 1 2 P]

This isn't a huge surprise since Sony has been trying to find ways to monetize PSN since last year(starting with PSN+). It doesn't affect me at all since all 10+ PS3 games of mine were bought new(everytime I see used PS3 games at yard sales they are never anything I'm interested in). It sucks for people who buy games used but like others have already said, just wait a few weeks/months and that $59.99 price will soon be $39.99 or less. Hell, I just got MAG for $7.48 at Target last month. Of course, thats been out for a year or more but sometimes it's good to wait.

[WCP]

Considering most games go on sale pretty quickly, I really don't see how this is that big of a deal, just wait a few weeks and K-Mart will have the game for $30.


Well, sometimes you'll see a game drop to $39.99 after maybe a month of mediocre sales, but that's actually a bit rare. Also, those are usually games like Fear 3 or Red Faction Armageddeon, not a high end game like L.A. Noire. Normally you need to wait about 3 months to see the first price drop on a big game like L.A. Noire. Also, while something will drop to $39.99 relatively quickly, it takes awhile longer before you see it for $29.99 (your $30 price).

Some games, like Modern Warfare:Black Ops,you'd be hard pressed to find it somewhere for $29.99 even now.

Of course, having said all of that, if you're patient enough, and you constantly check CAG for the latest deals, you can get amazing games for very low prices, but you have to be willing to be about 2 years or 1 1/2 years late on your gaming habits.

[Oobgarm]

Well, sometimes you'll see a game drop to $39.99 after maybe a month of mediocre sales, but that's actually a bit rare. Also, those are usually games like Fear 3 or Red Faction Armageddeon, not a high end game like L.A. Noire. Normally you need to wait about 3 months to see the first price drop on a big game like L.A. Noire. Also, while something will drop to $39.99 relatively quickly, it takes awhile longer before you see it for $29.99 (your $30 price).

Some games, like Modern Warfare:Black Ops,you'd be hard pressed to find it somewhere for $29.99 even now.

Of course, having said all of that, if you're patient enough, and you constantly check CAG for the latest deals, you can get amazing games for very low prices, but you have to be willing to be about 2 years or 1 1/2 years late on your gaming habits.

Not an actual price drop, just a company selling the game less for MSRP for a day/week.

You can make a list of the last 6 months worth of releases, and 99% of them were on sale for $20 less or more within a month or so, with a few of them(like Duke Nukem and FEAR 3) getting a sale a week after they came out. Even LA Noire was cheap not long after the initial buzz died off.

[duffmanth]

Maybe Sony and others should stop raising the price of games, and maybe people wouldn't buy used so much.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Maybe Sony and others should stop raising the price of games, and maybe people wouldn't buy used so much.

Maybe people should stop buying used so much and maybe Sony and others wouldn't raise the price of games.

ucwhatididthere?

[kupomogli]

Maybe Sony and others should stop raising the price of games, and maybe people wouldn't buy used so much.

New game for $59.99, people will buy it used for $54.99. New game for $29.99, people will buy it used for $24.99.

[camarotuner]

EA started doing this with it's sports franchises, THQ followed (or do I have that backwards?) and it hasn't dramatically changed the used/new ratio of games sold by those manufacturers. Lots of people (shocking, I know I don't get it either) never EVER play online and couldn't give a rats about the code thing. All this is really going to do is hurt the resale value of those games and make the used games even MORE attractive to the casual audience because instead of 54.99 it'll likely be 47.99.

So, frankly, whatever. Unless they have dramatically better success with this system than EA/THQ I doubt it will impact much of anything and it surely isn't going to put much of a dent in used sales.

[j_factor]

New game for $59.99, people will buy it used for $54.99. New game for $29.99, people will buy it used for $24.99.

In the latter scenario, the retailer is offering a greater incentive to buy used (20% off the new retail price vs. 9% off). This suggests that lowering the MSRP does in fact lower the demand to buy used, and the retailer has to compensate. This would have the effect of lowering trade-in values relative to retail pricing, decreasing the incentive to trade in games, possibly resulting in fewer trade-ins, and thus reducing used sales by reducing supply.

[Gamereviewgod]

As I just got done writing, there are three problems with the online pass system, one of them only concerning those that lock actual content:

1. Paying customers who show their support for their products now must justify their purchases to the game company in question. Paying $60 for a piece of entertainment isn't enough anymore.

2. Users without broadband internet access are simply shut out from content they rightfully paid for. According to companies instituting these passes, these customers are not worthy of the full game as opposed to the person who has broadband.

3. This screws multi-game households. If you have two children with their own individual Xbox Live or PlayStation Network accounts, only the account holder who first purchased the software can use the one-time code that was in the box. The other will have to pay $10 to download the pass online.

Also, anyone notice that only companies doing this are the ones worth astronomical amounts? EA, UbiSoft, Sony... etc. Smaller publishers like D3, Atlus, etc. don't seem to bothered about this mess.

[Boltorano]

It's not like I was buying these types of games from these publishers anyway, and they've given me another handy excuse not to!


Smaller publishers like D3, Atlus, etc. don't seem to bothered about this mess.

Does Atlus even publish that many games with online components? The only one I can think of us Demon's Souls.

[Leo_A]

Online support doesn't cost any extra for a publisher if the game remains in the hands of the original buyer or if it's passed on to someone else.

This is just a way to make money off used game sales, it has nothing to do with paying server cost for games or we'd be seeing a ongoing subscription instituted to subsidize online play. It's simply a clever way to portray their initial attempts with a fee that appears logical on the surface.

People should care, even those that buy their modern games new or don't play their games online. If this succeeds, they're going to just be taking this concept even further and it's almost certainly going to infringe on single player content eventually (Heck, it already has with several high profile examples like Mass Effect 2).

Does anyone want to see a WiiU, PS4, or Xbox 720 game that requires a code to unlock the second half of a single player campaign on a game disc? It's certainly going to happen one of these days as they continue their efforts to carve out methods to profit from used game sales. Just open up any annual report from a major publisher over the last few years and you're going to see that this is a major issue for game publishers and figuring out avenues to profit off used game sales is a major goal at the moment. If this concept works, they're certainly going to be expanding upon it.

People should care, especially classic gamers in a community such as this one that supposedly are interested in enjoying games years after mainstream gamers have left them behind. Who wants to pick up a used copy of Mass Effect 4 twenty five years down the road as they're collecting and be unable to play a significant percentage of the game? Who wants to have a single use unlock code tied to a console that breaks years after the server support for a game has ended, presumably preventing any chance of regaining access to a healthy chunk of the single player content on your disc through legitimate means in the future?

Not me

Of course this issue is a very unimportant one in the big scheme of things, so please don't misunderstand the parallel I'm about to draw here since I'm certainly not suggesting this issue is on par with what this quotation refers to. But does anyone remember that famous quote about Germany rounding up people during WWII? Don't make that mistake if your ability to fully enjoy the single player content of your disc (Beyond outside server dependent multiplayer) decades down the road is important to you.

"First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me."

If you want to ensure you'll fully be able to enjoy your retail games in the future (As long as they continue to be released on disc), I suggest you should be up in arms about it now even if you're not a online gamer or because you buy your games new.

It just might evolve into something you're not going to like in a few years that will affect how you do experience this hobby. It's best to be in an uproar now since it's going to just get tougher to have any effect the longer this concept is in place. They're out to profit from used game sales and encourage people to purchase new, so it's hard to envision this concept ending it's evolution here with just online multiplayer.