As I've mentioned before in another thread, I will not find it surprising at all if Sony tries to pull the same thing with the PS4 and have a theory about why Microsoft may be employing these restrictions for games.

Let's start by looking back on the 7th gen. Longest console generation in history. But why? Because Microsoft and Sony wanted to make as much $$ possible before the next generation. Now this may seem obvious but let's look at the data.  Under normal conditions, we would've started an entirely new console generation. In this gen, 360 and PS3 launched under a massive loss per unit. When was it that the 360 became profitable? 2011-2012? And that was with Xbox LIVE! PS3 still has over 4.5 billion in losses at this point. But developers howl, scream at MS and Sony demanding new hardware, when even one of them barely made a profit and the other suffered innumerable losses. If anything, MS and Sony felt the need to extend the generation, squeeze it out as much as possible. But under the demands from the developers they caved. If you think about it, the need to overly appeal to the big publishers and developers is the reason why the always-online and used games debacle is happening in the 1st place. 

Let's think for a moment...what exactly is the architecture that the XONE and PS4 are using? PC architecture? Well sure it's now easier for developers to make games, but it's also easier for pirates to figure out the system. 

Piracy. The thought of it drives developers away from makes games for any console. Consoles with standard architecture can and will be hacked to oblivion. Developers won't enjoy that. So they pressure the console makers. Pressure them to employ countermeasures in the form of DLing to hardware, always online, in a desperate attempt to save their bottom line. And it looks like Microsoft listened.

The used games thing? According to the "industry" used games is one of the EVILLLLS of the market, and it must be eradicated. Of course Microsoft would happily agree on making users pay fees, especially if they themselves get a cut. And what of Sony?

"Sony wouldn't do that! Only MS is evil!" Well folks I have a piece of news for ya. What do you think Sony thought when they saw those massive amount of $$ flowing in from LIVE tax? Envy and the need to do something similar. What better thing to tax than used games then right?

Besides, the one hurt most by pirates last gen was undoubtebly Sony. They have more than enough reason to do something similar. Something called the PSP being the prime victim. The PSP was plagues by pirates who used it for everything from PS1 emulation to pirating PSP games on masse. Hell it even served as a GBA emulator. And the best one out there too. Now people can beg for Sony not to go down the route of Microsoft and listen to the publishers but the truth is, they already have. It's called the PSVita.

The Vita memory cards have been Sony's answer to not only the piracy problem, but their high per-loss model. The memory cards serve as a way to subsidize the losses on the hardware as well as making piracy a lot more difficult. Well we all know how that turned out right? Now let me ask you something. Assuming that the Vita started development along with the PS4 like Sony implied, is it really not possible that they decided to implement this from the beginning? 

So far, Sony has not outright stated that all used games will be allowed no questions asked. Of course it doesn't "block" used games per se, but when asked to go into more detail, execs seem to keep avoiding the issue. Why? If they truly had a no restriction policy, they'd be bragging about it right now. Openly stating that they are consumer friendly, compared to Microsoft's  console. Why aren't they out there yet? Because they are precisely aiming to do just what Microsoft is doing, albeit on a lesser scale. Sony recently implied that it will be "up to the publishers" whether to use this or not. Perhaps Sony themselves might not use it , but do you really expect EA and other 3rd parties not to use this? 

You scared yet for this upcoming gen? I know I am.

Sorry for the horrid structure, I'm just really tired and kinda bummed. Please Understand.

Wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if Sony pulls something similar.

Na, Sony will keep push online passes and giving more value with PS+. They will use MS's greed against them. While they might have a system in place to keep people like EA happy, their games and 99 percent of others will not use it. xbox one will be standard.

What surprises me more is not this as it was kind of expected but what in the world in going on in the heads of Nintendo right now.

I cannot comprehend how, when seemingly free of all these troubles and stuff they still manage to fk up their launch.

I really hope Sony does not block used games or charge a fee. It won't be a deal breaker for me at this point but I can only take so much. I enjoy using GameFly to try out and play games I'm not too sure about.

Sony already said that it's up to the publisher to decide what they want to do. Which is fair enough.

Didn't EA state they will drop online passes. I don't think they will do that if it was only MS implementing these features.

Sony already said they will not do that.

lmao

hummm. makes sense