Both the PlayStation 4 - rumoured to be codenamed 'Orbis' at Sony - and the next Xbox are highly unlikely to feature anti-pre-owned technology according to Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter.
"The anti-piracy rumors started in 2005, when Ken Kutaragi patented a technology for it prior to the PS3 launch," Pachter told NowGamer, adding that the 'Orbis' rumour's "reliable source is a monkey".
Sony considered, but ultimately decided against including such technology in PS3 he explained. "Today’s rumor is just a re-hash of that old rumor and the recent one about the Xbox 720," he said in a statement sent to NowGamer and gi.biz.
Anti-pre-owned consoles would lead to a "consumer backlash" if a platform holder incorporated it alone. "If they all do it, they are susceptible to a collusion charge, and if one does it and the others don’t, the one who does it will see a loss of market share," Pachter explained.
But how important is it to Microsoft and Sony to lock out pre-ownd software? Not very, added the analyst, with Sony and Microsoft software sales amounting to "less than 10 per cent of sales on their respective consoles."
"It isn’t really in Sony’s or Microsoft’s best interests to block used games," Pachter added, reasoning that traded games also fund new game purchases.
While publishers would benefit, retailers would suffer and could refuse to stock any new hardware with the feature.
"If Sony unilaterally did this, I could see GameStop refusing to carry their console, and sales of the PS4 would thereby suffer," concluded Pachter. "On balance, it’s a dumb idea, making it a dumb rumor. Of course, you never know."
http://www.nowgamer.com/news/1302046/nextgen_playstation_4_orbis_source_is_a_monkey_pachter.html
