With digital games and downloadable content rising to the forefront, and with piracy always being on the cutting edge of technology, one would’ve easily assumed that the prominent purveyors of downloadable content — Apple, Microsoft, Sony, to name a few — would’ve gotten fairly uptight about protecting said content from being shareable. However, a widely-known, rarely discussed practice Sony has had with their PlayStation Network downloadable content was that one person could buy something, then share it freely with four other people. It wasn’t a weird workaround, it was an official policy that Sony fully supported, and sometimes explained in game manuals or even on the backs of game boxes. On November 18, however, the practice is going to shift from five shares, to two.
Probably most important to note is that games that have been previously shared between five people aren’t affected by the new change, so all of that Rock Band DLC you shared with your friends and siblings is safe. For any content purchased after November 18, you will only be able to share it between two activated PS3s or PSPs — the specified system obviously being the one for which the software was purchased.
To help with this change, Sony will be providing a new PlayStation Network account management website that will allow users to deactivate devices tied to their account, so they can have their two shareable devices be ones they choose.
Some will certainly miss the sharing feature, considering if you had two friends you trusted with your account information and traded account information with them, a $15 game suddenly turned into a $5 game that everyone downloaded from one of the three participating accounts. Now, it seems it’ll just be you and your best bud, with your lesser buds fending for themselves.
(via PlayStation Blog)
