I recent reviewed SOCOM: Fireteam Bravo 3, having gotten it for my PSP Go on the PSN (Playstation Network) store. Getting anything through PSN requires having a full account linked into the store, and purchases tie in to your credit card and are permanently linked into your PSN account. In other words, if you have a PSN game, Sony knows you haven’t pirated it or gotten it used. In exchange, I can re-download the game on any of my (four) PSP systems tied to my account, so that anyone in my house can play any of the PSP games I own easily.

That is great for an honest gamer such as myself, but the PSP has the distinction of being perhaps the most widely pirated system ever in terms of ratio of sales to piracy. Furthermore, Sony’s PSP Go has thus far been a resounding failure by pretty much every metric possible. Not only that, but the rather lackluster library has led many users to avoid paying full price for games, resorting to renting and buying used copies.

Since Sony gave out review copies via PSN, more reviewers (such as myself) already are integrated into PSN and never noticed anything, but IGN noticed and spoke to Sony’s John Koller about it.

According to the article:

However, for the retail UMD version, the game comes with a voucher code that must be redeemed to unlock access to online gameplay. The kicker: those who buy a UMD copy used will not get such a voucher (unless the previous owner didn’t bother redeeming it) and will thus be blocked from online play unless they pay $20 for a “PSN entitlement voucher.”

Koller talks about what fans will think:

John Koller: From our research, this will be received quite positively. Remember, piracy affects more than just the creators of the game. It also affects the consumers who purchase titles expecting a high-quality gaming experience. Game development is a long and costly process that can take years to create and many more dollars to develop, manufacture, market and distribute.

I am of three minds about this: having played multiplayer on the PSP in the past, I know that the system is over-run by pirates using exploits and generally behaving in a way that will be familiar to anyone who has played wide-open PC multiplayer games in the past. (i.e. abysmally) So something that locks things down is a good idea in my mind.

Second, I have really seen the impact of piracy on developers for the PSP. In late 2006 the system was called ‘all but dead’ as the rampant piracy led developer after developer to flee the platform. And while there is a decent library of games, it is not deep enough to use the system as a primary platform – something that many folks do with the DS (or PC or Wii or PS3 or X360 or … you get the picture). So ANYTHING that fights PSP piracy I support.

However, as an ardent supporter of the used game trade market, I don’t like the idea of a $20 charge for multiplayer. I understand that Sony wants to price it so that people won’t just pirate and buy a cheap code (which will likely still happen at $20, but apparently that level is acceptable for them). I just wish that they had managed to do a ‘authorize / revoke’ system similar to what is used in PC games such as Sacred 2: Fallen Angel, which would lock down the system while still being consumer friendly.

What do you think?

Source: IGN via VGBlogger