Sony Knocks GameSharing Down To ‘3′
PSN titles come with new Terms of ServicePublished 24/11/2009 at 22:33 by nofi
Some developers don’t like the practice of gamesharing - one person buying a game and then loaning his account details to four friends so they can download the game for free – and now it appears that Sony are getting a bit fed up with it too. Despite Jack Tretton pushing the idea as a positive one – “you can send that content to four other friends for that initial investment, we want to get the game in as many hands as possible,” he famously said at the PS3’s launch – it now appears that the limit has been dropped from 5 to 3.
The terms of service that appear to have changed (link to the Australian site here) state that “you may use [your purchased] item or content on up to three (3) different PlayStation®3 systems that have been activated for your account. You may deactivate or activate specific PlayStation®3 systems, as long as the maximum activated number of PlayStation®3 systems for your account at any given time is three (3).”
The TOS then goes on to say that there are “two sets of usage schemes for content, corresponding to two categories of in-game items and other content that you purchase.” The first category, called Network Content, can only be accessed “by one activated PlayStation®3 system per day and only by the account through which the Network Content was purchased. Network Content cannot be used on two different PlayStation®3 systems within a twenty-four (24) hour period.”
This effectively ends gamesharing on multiple user accounts – you have to use the account the game was purchased under. The second category, and the one which seems the most restricted, is Local Content, “once installed on a PlayStation®3 system by the account that purchased it, can be accessed by other accounts on that same PlayStation®3 system.”
Via GAF.
Comments
Please note that all comments are the opinion of the individual author and not TheSixthAxis.
nofi | 24/11/2009 22:37
Wants a custom tag.
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UK version here: http://tinyurl.com/psn-tos
Ryan1991 | 24/11/2009 22:38
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I think this is a good. From what I’ve heard, most PSN seem to be very good and this can only mean good things for the developers of these titles. Instead of getting it for free, their friend’s will tell them that it is brilliant and they will be tempted to buy and could ultimately buy which means more money for the developer. More money = More and/or better PSN titles.
kassatsu | 24/11/2009 22:39
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Well maybe this will spur sales in some titles.
TctclMvPhase | 24/11/2009 23:49
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…while it may kill some others.
Gamesharing is an inconvenient practice and I imagine on the whole it will not have a tremendous effect on sales. While some titles will gain some sales, others will lose sales because gamers will choose not to buy instead of going in on a gameshare.
Ryan1991 | 25/11/2009 09:37
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But they lose sales anyway becuase they don’t gain any money from gamesharing.
LycanGav | 25/11/2009 11:29
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Yeah but how many folks have bought games via gamesharing accounts, splitting the costs between upto five users, that they would not have purchased on their own? Pricey titles such as Trine have definitely seen this treatment, it’s been discussed by gamesharers on public forums all over the internet. I’m not saying that the revenue lost/gained balances out, but it does work both ways and this should be recognised.
mark w. | 24/11/2009 22:39
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seems very bad news…
Sympozium Necropolis | 24/11/2009 23:44
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Good news
Goldrusher | 24/11/2009 22:45
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“ can only be accessed by one activated PlayStation®3 system per day and only by the account through which the Network Content was purchased” is pure bullshit.
If you have the owner account on your console, you should be able to play the game. It’s the same as forcing you to buy 2 or 3 discs of a game if you have relatives in the same household, wanting to play the same game.
cc_star | 24/11/2009 22:51
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Which family is going to have more than 3 PS3’s in their house?
Jas-n | 24/11/2009 23:15
Folding With TSA Co-ordinator.
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You called?
On another note, what about people (like myself) who’ve had PS3’s die on them, you can’t deactivate a bricked system.
Erroneus | 24/11/2009 23:36
Wanted "Trophy Hunter" but was too late.
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Exactly, we need some kind of system, where we can revoke all “copies” of a game.
djdustb | 25/11/2009 07:45
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Jas-n I think Sony can deactivate the old systems for you if you explain the situation to them.
skibadee | 24/11/2009 22:45
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that is a good thing in the long run.
Charmed_Fanatic | 24/11/2009 22:55
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yeah should hopefully bring more money to PSN game dev’s
cc_star | 24/11/2009 22:48
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Cool,
Can’t really see a downside.
I got a new terms and conditions email the other day, but as they highlighted in anyway whatsoever what the changes were, I was waiting for something like this to tell us what the changes were.
plutoniumdragon | 24/11/2009 23:00
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I don’t share games anyway so mostly this doesn’t bother me, but where you say you can’t see any downsides –
Maybe I’m reading it wrong, but if “local content” is locked to the console which purchased it – what happens when said console breaks? Which it will eventually…
nofi | 24/11/2009 22:50
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I get the impression that if you’re currently sharing with 4 others it’s OK, but if two of them deactivate you won’t be able to activate any more to push it beyond 3.
DeforMAKulizer | 24/11/2009 23:10
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Thats what im reading!! And Nofi, i think the thing with the Network Content and Local Content Applied before cause once my brother downloaded warhawk from my account and i got locked out for one day, and the other day he got Wipeout and the same thing happened again… I think by network content they mean like a full game (mainly with a platinum) downloaded off PSN like Burnout, or Socom etc that will absolutely be locked to one account… But local refers to any of the Normal PSN games that sell for 10$/10 euros / 7.99 pounds…
I think slow sales on the PSN, added with multiple downloads from the same account attributed to Sony’s move to encourage sales more…
FluBBa | 25/11/2009 08:47
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The only games so far (that I know of) that use 24h rules are Warhawk and GT5P. I share Burnout with my friend and we have played together several times.
mynameisblair | 24/11/2009 22:53
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That is annoying, as me and my friend share games that we have both bought.
Does this mean I can’t get my old stuff back off my old PS3? As I played it on my main account, but bought it on my old console on my secondary account.
oMega-W | 24/11/2009 22:55
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Not that I condone gamesharing, but I don’t like. Can you just say, fuck it, let’s change the rules? (My experience has been with my original (now YLOD) system, my brother’s, and a replacement. It’s not unfeasible that I’ll need another…)
cc_star | 24/11/2009 22:59
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Get them deactivated, I’m gonna get my YLOD one done tmrw now
mynameisblair | 24/11/2009 23:00
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How do you get them deactivated if they have YLOD?
cc_star | 24/11/2009 23:13
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Call them
Sympozium Necropolis | 24/11/2009 23:16
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politely
mynameisblair | 24/11/2009 23:17
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Really?
Tried that… they wouldn’t deactivate my gameshares for me!
cc_star | 24/11/2009 23:29
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They better do, I’m on my 3rd machine as I bought most of my content on a unit which YLODd, I then activated a few purchases on my brothers ps3, and I’ve obviously activated all of my purchased content on my replacement machine. So I’m maxxed out.
My brothers PS3 was stolen when his house was broken into, and he doesn’t have a receipt or no the serial number so I can’t get that deactivated.
One day, if I ever have money I was hoping to get a 2nd PS3 for another room in my house, guess it’ll have to be a different console then cause I sure as shit ain’t buying content again I’ve already paid for – although as have no money it’s a long way off.
mynameisblair | 24/11/2009 23:48
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Same here… really need them deactivated incase this breaks/need another one.
pawski | 25/11/2009 19:01
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they wont do it unless you send in your broken/stolen one (lol) and give them £130 quid.
cc_star | 24/11/2009 22:56
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Although I think this move is OK, Sony need to be careful that the PS3 system doesn’t become too locked down causing hackers to re-double their efforts, sparking off a firmware war.
tyrant161 | 24/11/2009 23:02
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Does this mean that exsisting games will change to 3 consoles or just for new games that you purchase?
scavenga | 24/11/2009 23:08
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Yeah, I was also wondering whether this will work retroactively.
It’s shite IMO, not everyone have money to buy games all the time, so it can be good to poll some cash together for sharing a game.
Oh well…
Marfje123 | 24/11/2009 23:05
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Is it allowed to be having family members (my sister, yes lives with me in our parents’s home) on 1 account? so that would mean my account now has 2 activated ps3’s… but is it allowed to gameshare with her? i’m seriously going to have a good word with them if they won’t let me reset my activations once i exceeded the 3 activations.
tyrant161 | 24/11/2009 23:11
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I am hoping that its possible to phone sony to get old PS3 consoles you have owned that have YLOD’d on you, deactivated. But i dont have the serial numbers….oh no! what now. I have just bought my daughter a PS3 slim for christmas and shared my PSN games to her slim ready for christmas day….theres every possability that she won’t be able to play them now if exsisting games that i bought are included….and surely if they do include exsisting games then sony are in some sort of breach due to the fact that we purchased the PSN games with the knowledge that you could activate up to 5 PS3 systems. It all seems a bit sketchy to me.
tantalus_blank | 25/11/2009 00:00
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exactly what I’m annoyed about. If they sell the product to you under the terms and conditions that were in place at the time, they should damn well adhere to them. That is, unless they have some stupid “T&C are subject to change” disclaimer
flatspikes | 25/11/2009 09:06
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I totally agree… the rules should apply to NEW purchases only then that is ok… They should actually add something along the line Apple have with iTunes where you can reset your account and deactivate all accounts and start again…
Sympozium Necropolis | 24/11/2009 23:13
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I really do need all my consoles deactivated first fat PSP died at Holywood, 2nd PSP I wasn’t aware of this system activation thing. PS3 classicico superi died because of the dreadful saving system from Littlebigplanet and I’ve no idea how two slots have been used?