The PlayStation 4 will allow gamers to play used games and they won’t be required to have an always-online connection with the console, confirmed last night by none other than Sony Worldwide Studios head Shuhei Yoshida.
Yoshida was asked about used games point blank following the PlayStation 2013 event last night and, after fumbling to find the proper response and checking with his Japanese PR adviser, finally had an answer.
“So, used games can play on PS4,” he responded. “How is that?”
In addition to Yoshida, a Sony rep confirmed that night to Eurogamer that Sony’s anti-used games patent, which was discovered last month, had nothing to do with the PS4 at all. Yoshida also added another clarification when it came to gamers potentially needing to have a constant Internet connection in order to play PS4 titles and enjoy the next-gen console.
“Oh yes, yes, you can go offline totally,” he said. “Social is big for us, but we understand there are some people who are anti-social! So if you don’t want to connect to anyone else, you can do that.”
This was news that Kotaku had verified by a second Sony source, a company PR rep, who reiterated that “PS4 games will be playable without an Internet connection.”
The news is sure to come to the relief of several gamers who prefer to save money and purchase their games used. There is likely a much bigger sigh coming from GameStop, which survives thanks to the used-games market.
