Sony is considering to follow the actions of game developer Electronic Arts to charge users who buy games second hand an online fee, which means that owners of second hand titles will not be able to participate in an online multiplayer game until they pay. THQ and Ubisoft also followed Electronic Arts’ actions afterwards, and now it seems that Sony is considering going through with it.
It seems that the developers do not like the fact that they do not benefit from the “second-hand market”, where players trade games, or sell their old ones for a cheap price. It is sure that many of the publishers and developer believe that this hurts their future and the gaming industry in general.
Sony told Gamesindustry.biz that it supports these plans for a second-hand game online fee, and also that it is thinking to charge for its own first-party titles.
“On the principle of making online portions of the game available or unlocked from the disc-based release for a fee, we’re broadly supportive of that.” Andrew House, Sony’s European president said.
The CEO of Activision Publishing, Bobby Kotick has also suggested a subscription service for the Call of Duty franchise, which sounds ridiculous, because many of the companies, including Sony, wouldn’t go that far.
Source: Digitaltrends and Gamesindustry.biz