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Sony Reminds PS Users They Don't Own Digital Games (games.gg)
submitted 3 days ago by to c/gaming@beehaw.org
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/74416381

The relevant section is blunt. "The Software is licensed to you, not sold," the EULA states. "You are granted a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, and personal license to play or use the Software for your private, non-commercial use on the system or device it was intended for."

The terms also restrict renting, modifying, or obtaining games through unauthorised means. Nothing in there is new, technically. Sony's EULA has always said this. The timing is what makes it land differently right now.

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[–] 2 points 1 day ago*

This is why I’ve never paid above half price for an online store game once. (Also all video games are digital, so I guess he’s saying we don’t own even old carts as the means to play them will one day stop working)

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    [–] 12 points 3 days ago

    Jesus Christ, Eliza Crichton-Stuart, did you really have to use AI to generate this article? Are you not ashamed of it?

    Yeah, Sony sucks, but can we actually talk to each other like humans?

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    [–] 14 points 3 days ago (1 child)

    Good. Everyone needs a reminder of how enshittified everything has become.

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  • [–] 0 points 2 days ago (1 child)

    Except it's always been this way?

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  • [–] 3 points 2 days ago (1 child)

    Not in this way. I can literally still play my UMD games on my old PSP, and Sony can't do shit about it.

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  • [–] 0 points 2 days ago* (1 child)

    But that has nothing to do with anything. The license is still the same.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 days ago (1 child)

    No, it's literally not. Sony can take away your license for a digital game for any or no reason. They cannot take away your license for the physical good outside of very specific cases (and they will require a court order to do it, unlike revoking a digital license).

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  • [–] 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 child)

    Sigh. Whatever.

    The license doesn't change. You are arguing about the ability to revoke it by taking it from you physically. That is two very different things.

    The license did not change. If you download a game and turn off the internet, guess what, it isnt going away. If you clone the drive and restore it, it isnt going away.

    These are just weird semantics. There is no reason (and it has happened before) that the same thing couldnt happen with a physical device as long as you connect it to the internet. They could revoke the key from a physical disc just as easily by banning it from the device if they wanted to.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 child)

    How old are you? Because no, there is no key to revoke for a UMD. There is no "banning" discs from a PSP.

    The fact you apparently are so young you aren't aware things used to be different, is proving the point here.

    And more importantly, no the license was not the same; the physical disc fell under what is called the First Sale Doctrine:

    The first sale doctrine is a legal principle codified in U.S. copyright law at 17 U.S.C. § 109. It states that once a copyright owner sells or gives away a physical copy of a work, their control over the distribution of that specific copy ends.

    When companies began to use license keys for instance as a backdoor route to bypass it, it was a big legal deal.

    I think you're confusing copyright ownership, which was always the same (since video games have existed, that is), with end user licenses, the nature of which are very different now.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

    I mentioned the key as a tool in general, not necessarily related to the PSP. Just all devices. Or even updates that could change the way a game worked, making it not work anymore.

    Lets look at the license from Sony:

    Here is my license agreement from my PS1:

    "The Software is licensed to you, not sold. You are granted a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, and personal license to play or use the Software for your private, non-commercial use on the system or device it was intended for."

    And their current agreement with a PS5:

    "The Software is licensed to you, not sold. You are granted a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, and personal license to play or use the Software for your private, non-commercial use on the system or device it was intended for."

    30 years and its almost exactly the same.

    That is what I said. Nothing changed.

    You are wanting to talk about physical vs digital ownership, but I already said I wasnt talking about that, but it also didn't change, as they had exactly the same words during the PS1, you just didnt see it because you were not a developer. You were not allowed to share, transfer, use anything digitally transferred.

    Yet there is a history of nothing changing for the consumer as well:

    By the time the PS2 came out, in Japan they were selling online games. As well as the PS3 and even the PSP GO. All with non transferable licenses.

    So even in those cases, its been constant and nothing changed today that hasnt been around for a very long time.

    Now lets talk about software promised and removed, and this is one example, but it is sony and was huge:

    Sony sold the PS3 with Linux support. Sony said I could put another OS on it, or I could get Yellow Dog Linux. There was a presentation that said I could watch movies, program the ps3, listen to music, view photos, etc.

    Then they updated the firmware and took that away. They mandated the update, and broke the software, even when I owned the Disc it was on.

    Same as it ever was: if you have an online device they can screw you. Its a hardware issue, you have no control over that so, as it has been since the ps3: never buy sony.

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    • [–] 6 points 3 days ago (2 children)

    As far as I know, this is no different than what Valve/Steam does. I love Steam and do 99% of my gaming through it, but I also know that if anything ever happens to Steam, my game library is like....gone, man. Unless you're holding your game in your hot little hands, it's not yours. You're just paying for the ability to play it.

    Welcome to late-stage Capitalism, kids.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 days ago (1 child)

    Steam, Epic, and all other online digital distribution systems. They're all the same. They decided to redefine what the word "buy" means, and we fucking let them. Same with other content like music and movies. They should be made to change their buttons to "Rent" and "Rent Harder".

    Except for GOG. They provide DRM-free downloads of games. Those guys are awesome.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 days ago

    If its stored as data on my computer, then it's still fair game to any kind soul with a knack for DRM-removal. And while technically it is possible to crack DRM on a console, it is much trickier. So yeah, I won't let the EULA get me down; if the day comes that Steam shuts down I'll just get cracks instead.

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    • [+] 1 point 3 days ago
    [deleted]
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