PlayStation 4 Used Games Policy: Yes And No

This week we've been following along with the release of the Sony PlayStation 4 and even stopped by the event to see what all the hype was about. One of the biggest questions that continues to appear is "will the PlayStation 4 play used games?" The answer seems to be yes – from what we've heard and what both Eurogamer and Engadget (amongst others) have heard, used games will function on the PlayStation 4. The question that's not been answered in any real way is: "what happens if I want to sell my PlayStation 4 games?"

It's ben confirmed several times over that games will be able to be purchased in physical form as well as digitally – both for some titles, in some cases. This means that there will, indeed, be opportunities for people to have a disk (Blu-Ray, as it were), play it, then pass it on to someone else with their own PlayStation 4 console. But a question remains surrounding licensing. While every major game console today (pre-PS4 and Xbox 720) is able to swap games and consoles without trouble, rumors and tips leading up to this generation's inability to play games that weren't licensed specifically to them continues to linger.

On the other hand, it would appear that each instance of an answer from Sony thus far has been traced back to Shuhei Yoshida, Sony's head of Worldwide Studios. Saying in one instance that "[used] PS4 games will work on [the] hardware" (via Engadget) and in another that "used games work on PS4" (via Eurogamer), in both cases Yoshida was unable to clarify further.

What may be happening is that Sony is still in negotiations with game companies to decide whether they're going to implement disk/console tying or not. Another possibility is that none of this used game selling/buying and using business is complicated at all, but simply that at this stage in the development of the PlayStation 4, Sony's representation simply can't legally comment on it.

Have a peek at the timeline below for more information on the PlayStation 4 – and peek at our ever-growing PlayStation 4 tag portal as well!