PlayStation US boss ‘would oppose pre-owned ban’

A high-profile executive at Sony Computer Entertainment America personally objects to incorporating anti-pre-owned technologies into future games hardware, according to a popular games analyst.

SCEA president Jack Tretton “thinks it would be anti-consumer” for the next generation PlayStation console to block access to games purchased second-hand, according to analyst Michael Pachter, who claims to have discussed the matter with Tretton at a pre-E3 meeting.

“Tretton told me that, for the record, he’s completely opposed to blocking used games,” Pachter claimed.

The SCEA boss also purportedly said that “maybe Japan thinks different” on the matter – inferring that the controlling PlayStation division in Tokyo (headed by SCE Group CEO Andrew House) is still considering anti-pre-owned technologies for PlayStation 4.

Speaking on video games discussion programme, Bonus Round, Pachter branded speculation on ‘next-gen pre-owned cleansing’ as “the dumbest rumour I’ve ever heard”.

In the past several weeks, various reports have claimed that console manufacturers are considering blocking second-hand games for the upcoming systems such as PlayStation 4 and Xbox 720 (nom de guerre).

However, according to the chief executive at retail giant GameStop, Microsoft’s next generation games console will not feature technology that blocks out pre-owned games.