Sony scored a massive win at last year's E3 by announcing that no form of DRM would be implemented in games on the PS4. As you may recall, the company upheld the rights of consumers to resell physical software, resulting in rapturous applause. However, a recent job listing posted to the platform holder's site suggests that a DRM solution could be coming to all three of the manufacturer's main formats' multimedia apps.
While it's not clear which services this will affect – or how it will even work – it's likely that popular on-demand platforms such as Netflix may be the driving force behind the added protection. This is merely a speculative theory, but one that may make sense in light of the looming removal of HDCP from the firm's new system, as a Tweet from Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida recently hinted at.
Of course, many will welcome the elimination of the irritating video capture restrictions, but it appears that Sony will be taking the logical steps in providing enhanced security for its multimedia partners. While we wait for more information, it's probably best not to panic about this – after all, we're sure that the Japanese giant has the sense to not follow in its closest competitor's suicidal slipstream.
[source playstationjobs.co.uk, via dualshockers.com]
Comments 22
This is going to get blown out of proportion, isn't it?
@get2sammyb it sure will. Hopefully the pitchforks and lanterns will be kept at bay.
Couldn't care less really but I don't even want to imagine IGN comment sections...
@get2sammyb
Anything concerning DRM and Sony or MS can't be blown out proportion. Those two corporations are not to be trusted one bit.
wild guess, but... Steam!
@get2sammyb: If this doesn't get blown out of proportion I will give up gaming.
@Tasuki
Like I posted though, there's no such thing as blowing stuff out of proportion regarding Sony and MS and DRM. Especially MS after what it tried to pull with X1. If this was Nintendo, the benefit of the doubt is given because while Nintendo isn't perfect it is the most consumer-friendly of the three companies.
@Gamer83 Yeah, except people don't care about consumer-friendly anymore. One year ago, I repeat ONE, I heard two fans, one Sony one Microsoft, talk about games and such. The Sony fan was gloating about the free online on PS3. Now that same guy is trying to defend the mandatory subscription for the PS4. I said that to say this: it looks as if Sony fanboys, NOT Sony fans, are the ones starting subscription fee arguments and prettier graphics arguments. I am a Nintendo fan and a Sony fan, but I hate it when fanboys, and trolls, try to dog out one company, usually Nintendo, then the company they support has some of the most anti-consumerist policies imaginable as well as greedy subscription fees seeing as the money most likely goes to money-hatting and is not actually invested in the games or the companies. How else would Sony and Microsoft lose massive amounts of money yearly, even after they put in subscription fees?
@eaglebob345
Well, taking fanboys out of it, because they will support their corporate mother no matter what.. I'm not sure how much of it is that the general consumers don't care. I think they do care, but in the end, whatever system has the games people want to play, that's the one they're going to buy. I'll be honest, as far as the company itself, I'm a huge Nintendo fan, I grew up on Nintendo and while I don't agree with all of its decisions (especially in regards to Wii U) I do believe the company always has the best interest of its fans in mind. Unfortunately there is literally nothing outside of Super Mario 3D World that is, imo, an absolute must-play on the Wii U. That will change a little bit this year but there's still more headed to the PS4, and even X1, that I'd rather play thanks in large part to the tremendous third party support these companies get. I'd like to say I could just buy a Wii U and be happy with only that but I'd be lying. I'm not a huge fan of Sony as a company, don't despise it like I do MS, but Sony is far from perfect, however, I am a huge PlayStation fan because of the games these consoles get and as long as the policies aren't so anti-consumer that it renders the machines un-usable should my internet connection go out, well, I'm going to keep buying PS systems. That doesn't mean I won't call bs where I think there is massive bs. Personally I think PS Plus is a fantastic service and have no problem paying the fee for it because of what Sony gives you, I can see why others would disagree though.
@eaglebob345 R&d? D&d? T&a? A&w? S&m? B&b? C&h? You never know how execs spend their money. Probably not very responsibly, all the way down the corporate ladder. Plus all the non-gaming stuff that may not be selling well. It's hard to make money in retail consumer electronics that aren't toys lol
@charlesnarles I know we don't know wher their money goes specifically, bu with Microsoft losing $2 billion annually on the XBOX division with their subscription fees, I sincerely doubt that money is put into the XBOX division. As for Sony, with all of the DLC that they and Microsoft buy as well a exclusives, Sony is trying to spend like Microsoft, which is a mistake. Sony is slowly killing itself trying to out spend Microsoft and I am afraid they won't stop until it is too late.
@Gamer83 I know it is a matter of preference, but there are quite few Wii U games that are worth playing to me. I know that if I did just get the Wii U I would be perfectly happy because the only game I want from the other two systems is KH3, and I can wait for that (I waited 3 years until I finally played the spin offs, I can wait a little longer seeing as I have been waiting almost 10 years for KH3 to even be properly announced).
Sony lost me when they joined in the FPS contest with Microsoft, to see who could launch the prettiest FPS Faster. Even when it wasn't FPS it was all about graphics which, without great gameplay, is just a game full of pretty pictures.
@Gamer83
Nintendo the most consumer-friendly company out of the three companies??
You have to be kidding. The company that completely refuses the ever discount their games, that has never heard of something like 'sales' (yeah and their recent eShop efforts on that are pathetic), the company that links purchased content in the Nintendo eShop to the console instead of to the user, making it a hassle to have acces to your content if you own, or plan to own more than one Nintendo device.
I was a huge Nintendo fan a while back, and while that has diminished and I'm more playstation fan now, I still like Nintendo and I'll probably buy their games at some point, but come on Nintendo is way behind when it comes to downloadable content, offering discounts and sales (Mario Kart DS, Super Mario 64 are still games that are retailing for €40........ And that last one was actually just a port obviously...). Wind Waker HD is also just a remake and they've the balls to charge €60 for a remake.... And don't get me started on the VC prices..
Sorry Nintendo is in my opinion the worst consumer friendly company out of the three, simply because how they handle the pricings of their games. Their consoles may be the cheapest (but you get the weakest hardware, poor features etc, so from a value standpoint it's different), but their games are the most expensive in correlation with the "datedness".
Sorry Nintendo is way behind in all those terms. Personally I think Sony is still way ahead to Nintendo when you see they've got things like cross-buy for every Sony-published game that is on PS3/PSVita and/or PS4, Playstation Plus, regular sales and discounts.
as long as the drm is just on thing like netflix or youtube then I don't care because you have to be online to use them anyway
I can't think of any instances where drm has been a good thing for anyone using any form of media. I hope they don't put drm on netflix because I doubt I would be able to access the USA Netflix library and the UK library kinda sucks so I wouldn't keep my subscription going.
I love how Sony can do everything right for months on end, but one little rumor and all hell breaks loose, gamers are so spoiled. But on this, I don't get it, isn't this a good thing? You have to BE ON THE FREAKIN' INTERNET FR NETFLIX ANYWAY RIGHT!??!?
@Shellybird27 For sure.
Most likely this is to help them address the issue of HDCP for video as they drop it for gaming to ensure the transition goes according to plan. Heck, it could even be they just lost an employee and need short term help for the current team, because you know DRM is a full time job, and it could be a nothing burger all together.
The interwebs are gonna go crazy (especially over at IGN) with those saying "see we told you Sony was gonna do the same thing," etc.
There is no way Sony is going to drop some crazy DRM scheme akin to Microsoft's original policies so people need to relax. Though I know they won't.
@LDXD
Backwards compatibility and free online multiplayer are nice. But those things are less important and outweighed by how they handle their pricing model in my opinion, since actual Wii U games are the ones I'm going to play the most on Wii U. Same goes with PS4. I'm probably keeping my old systems anyway, but for people who don't but want to retain their games collection or for people who didn't have a Wii/PS3, it's nice indeed.
And to be fair since I already have Playstation Plus I don't really care that on PS4 multiplayer is behind PS+, in fact I think it's awesome that I'm already building up a collection of PS+ games practically for free (since I bought it for PS3 PS+ games). So coming from this standpoint I would rather have PS+ IGC on PS4 and get a lot of value for my money, than free online multiplayer and no Instant Game Collection.
No DRM and practically no microtransactions goes for Sony too. I know GT6 is has microtransactions, but apart from that one I've never seen microtransactions in a Sony game. I don't they're a huge problem as long as they aren't obtrusive, aren't prompted to the player and aren't in games with a strong focus on multiplayer where players who pay for microtransactions would get an advantage. And so far I think there's only one Sony-published game with microtransactions and that's GT6 as far as I know, so it's more an exception than a rule.
Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition, again we're talking about console manufacturers. This has nothing to do with Nintendo/Sony/MS, 3rd parties are free to set their prices. You should call out Square Enix on this one.
But, actually it's good that you mention it since you just proved my point. New Super Mario Bros. U is more than a year old and still costs €60! If Tomb Raider was published by Nintendo it would probably still be €60.
@Cyrso
Unless I missed the memo, Nintendo never considered putting an f'ing console curfew on me like MS did and nobody here should kid themselves, if there hadn't been such a huge backlash against MS for that, Sony would've gone right down the same path. Any time DRM and consoles are mentioned together, you have to worry about what those two companies will do. I don't put it past them to think they can be coy and add these features at a later date. You're already seeing it here with people making excuses for them like 'well you need to be online to use such and such feature anyway.' If people are accepting of bs, you will end up with bs. I still worry every day that a couple years from now I may not be able to use my PS4 if I don't do a damn 24-hour check in, which is bullsh*t to the highest degree. Consoles have never been like that and should never be like that, they're not PCs and I paid $400 for it. Not saying I should be allowed to do whatever I want with it (I hate piracy) but I should be able to play games on it whenever I want.
Not seen any out cry on other sites that normally jump down SONY's throat today on the internet Whatever it is i am sure it won't be as bad as what Microsoft tried to do to it's fans last year with their evil DRM things that they wanted to put on the Xbox ONE(& will 'Patch-in' one day when they sell more i bet)
@LDXD
Fine, different horses, different courses. I am not making excuses by the way. I was already a PS+ subscriber just for the PS3 Instant Game Collection, and as long as they would keep offering PS3 games, I would keep subscribe probably, so that I'm getting PS4 games to me is a nice bonus. I don't think it's hard to understand that I would prefer free PS4 games than nothing. As I said that's just my opinion from my point of view, and I can perfectly see why for other people it sucks.
And I partially agree. It's fine that games retain their value and don't discount up to 1 year, maybe a little longer if it's really a masterpiece to not screw over the early adopters, but Nintendo is simply taking it waaay too far. As I said Mario Kart DS, Super Mario 64 those are games that still €40 and and almost a decade old. Most Wii U launch games are still €60, lots of their big first-party Wii games are still €40 etc. That's not about retaining value anymore, some of those games are completely dated and the novelty has completely worn off, so they should get discounted. They could at least offer some temporary discounts/sales as everyone does, but nope. (and I'm talking about Nintendo first-party games)
@Gamer83 "if there hadn't been such a huge backlash against MS for that, Sony would've gone right down the same path" I don't know, I can't just assume that. I'm a man of science.
I wonder in what world there wouldn't have been such a backlash anyway.
"Any time DRM and consoles are mentioned together, you have to worry about what those two companies will do"
Nintendo eShop, PSN Store, XBL, Steam, they all already have have DRM.
There are different forms of DRM, you're talking about online-based DRM, and I agree that should never be tolerated.
@Gamer83 I've been with Sony for a while, they've treated me well, I trust them. Stop acting so paranoid for batman's sake! They haven't been around this long for nothing, I wish people would see how hard it is to be a head of a company like Sony, Nintendo etc. No one cares about the good things, but one thing they don't like and the bitching will never end. I would probably blow my brains out, Jesus Christ. I'm not talking about people on here, mainly on sites like IGN, where they have no respect for people. I'm acting like such an old person haha.
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