Sony updated its ‘Software Usage Terms’ on the PlayStation UK site yesterday , and it’s caused a bit of a stir on gaming forums around the world. Of particular interest is the section concerning resale, software licensing, and PSN monitoring:
” 4. Software is Licensed
4.1. All Software is licensed, not sold, which means you acquire rights to use the Software, as described in these Terms, but you do not acquire ownership of the Software. If you do not comply with these Terms, we can terminate your Software Licence which means you will no longer have the right to use the Software.’
[…]
7. Resale
7.1. You must not resell either Disc-based Software or Software Downloads, unless expressly authorised by us and, if the publisher is another company, additionally by the publisher.
[…]
14. Are we monitoring PSN?
14.1. Yes but we can’t monitor all PSN activity and we make no commitment to do so. However, we reserve the right in our sole discretion to monitor and record any or all of your PSN activity and to remove any of your UGM at our sole discretion, without further notice to you. Your use of PSN and our community features may be recorded and collected by us or sent to us by other users as described in 13.1. Any information collected in this way, for example, your UGM, the content of your voice and text communications, video of your gameplay, the time and location of your activities, and your name, your PSN Online ID and IP address, may be used by us or our affiliated companies to enforce these Terms and the SEN Terms of Service, to comply with the law, to protect our rights and those of our licensors and users, and to protect the personal safety of our employees and users. This information may be passed to the police or other appropriate authorities. By accepting these Software Usage Terms, you expressly consent to this.”
So what does this mean to those of you who want to share video games with your mates? Well if you’re selling/sharing a game published by Sony, not a lot, really–the problem occurs only if Sony decides to enforce their terms, which is doubtful. The interesting part of the changes is the section, “And, if the publisher is another company, additionally by the publisher,” which adds a new dimension (and potential threat) to the second-hand game-trading industry. From what I understand, this means that should a publisher want to block second-hand sales they could legally do so, and Sony wouldn’t in any way be to blame.
White it may not mean the end of this , these updates don’t seem representative of the public persona Sony has adopted over the past year.
Source: PlayStation UK