Sony and Software Sharing, Entitlements, and Cash Cows

Sony and game publishers have identified a new cash cow they hope to, er, milk for added revenue. And SCEA‘s filed a patent with the US Patent Office that explains how it works. It uses two key ingredients. The first is the Entitlement system of gamer points. The second? The fact that you tend to share your games with your friends.

How does it work? Since the last attempt to interpret a patent application (for Apple’s display actuator) gave us a migrane, we’re fortunate to have Panajev at the NeoGAF forums who’s done most of the legwork (also, we have Alex to thank for passing this tip over). His full analysis is over at the source article, but we’ll try to talk about the essential points here.

Back to the topic: Sony’s idea is to create an incentive for video game buyers to share their titles with their friends (as though the simple rewards of spreading the joy of gaming aren’t enough). This is an added bonus for game publishers as well – it generates even greater exposure for their titles, especially if they’re the lesser-known, less-publicized ones.

But to “properly” control this sharing – and generate money from it – this Sony system will track the game’s ownership, from its original owner to whomever he/she gives the game, and to whomever that new owner gives the game, and so on. It can do so because each gamer, each PS3, and even each game disc will have a unique ID.

For example, if I buy MGS4 and load it up to my PS3 under my profile, the Sony servers will immediately record that. If someone else (another gamer ID) plays the same disc, or if I or someone else tries to play the disc on another PS3 unit, the server will immediately recognize the difference, and will assume that the game has changed hands.

There is a Pandora’s box of marketing potential (and privacy concerns) from this kind of tracking and sharing. To promote sharing and increase a game’s exposure, the disc’s original owners may be awarded Entitlement points for playing the game the first time… call it “first-adpoter points” (our term, not Panajev or Sony’s). Sony may even ease copy restrictions and allow you to copy the game onto the HDD, allowing you to give the game disc to your friends.

Those friends, on the other hand, may be expected to pay some sort of “second-hand” fee to gain the right to play that game disc. While some of these points could be given to the original owner as well (the “rewards for sharing”), Sony’s take is that the points will also go to the game publisher.

Isn’t there a word for this among the Apple community? Oh, yeah: Digital rights management. What do you guys think? Given the costs of making these games, should Sony and game publishers also have a chance to earn money from this second-hand game sharing? Or should sharing be free, like sharing your music CDs with your friends?

Sony and game publishers have identified a new cash cow they hope to, er, milk for added revenue. And SCEA‘s filed a patent with the US Patent Office that explains how it works. It uses two key ingredients. The first is the Entitlement system of gamer points. The second? The fact that you tend to share your games with your friends.

How does it work? Since the last attempt to interpret a patent application (for Apple’s display actuator) gave us a migrane, we’re fortunate to have Panajev at the NeoGAF forums who’s done most of the legwork (also, we have Alex to thank for passing this tip over). His full analysis is over at the source article, but we’ll try to talk about the essential points here.

Back to the topic: Sony’s idea is to create an incentive for video game buyers to share their titles with their friends (as though the simple rewards of spreading the joy of gaming aren’t enough). This is an added bonus for game publishers as well – it generates even greater exposure for their titles, especially if they’re the lesser-known, less-publicized ones.

But to “properly” control this sharing – and generate money from it – this Sony system will track the game’s ownership, from its original owner to whomever he/she gives the game, and to whomever that new owner gives the game, and so on. It can do so because each gamer, each PS3, and even each game disc will have a unique ID.

For example, if I buy MGS4 and load it up to my PS3 under my profile, the Sony servers will immediately record that. If someone else (another gamer ID) plays the same disc, or if I or someone else tries to play the disc on another PS3 unit, the server will immediately recognize the difference, and will assume that the game has changed hands.

There is a Pandora’s box of marketing potential (and privacy concerns) from this kind of tracking and sharing. To promote sharing and increase a game’s exposure, the disc’s original owners may be awarded Entitlement points for playing the game the first time… call it “first-adpoter points” (our term, not Panajev or Sony’s). Sony may even ease copy restrictions and allow you to copy the game onto the HDD, allowing you to give the game disc to your friends.

Those friends, on the other hand, may be expected to pay some sort of “second-hand” fee to gain the right to play that game disc. While some of these points could be given to the original owner as well (the “rewards for sharing”), Sony’s take is that the points will also go to the game publisher.

Isn’t there a word for this among the Apple community? Oh, yeah: Digital rights management. What do you guys think? Given the costs of making these games, should Sony and game publishers also have a chance to earn money from this second-hand game sharing? Or should sharing be free, like sharing your music CDs with your friends?