Many users don’t know this, but in the official terms of use of PlayStation there is a clause that prohibits the resale of games. The ban affects both physical disc versions and digital versions downloaded from the PlayStation store.
PlayStation Article 7.1 sets out the conditions for the resale of games
The rule is part of the Sony platform terms of use, but which has gone largely unnoticed until now. Indeed, rather than unobserved we could even say ignored, given the large market of second-hand games.
Only recently, in fact, has anyone noticed the presence of article 7.1, which establishes the conditions for the resale of software. The offending (or rather incriminating) article reads as follows:
“Reselling disc games or digital games is prohibited, unless expressly authorized by our company and possibly the publisher, if the game is published by another company.”
It goes without saying that the clause was largely ignored by users over the years. In fact, it’s not even clear when this was included in PlayStation’s terms of use.
What is certain is the fact that the rule brings to mind the historic commercial with which PlayStation made fun of Microsoft’s Xbox One. At the time, we’re talking about 2013, Xbox announced a licensing system that would be impossible to resell (but also just lending to a friend) the games purchased. In response Sony replied with a historic advertisement in which he explained how to lend PlayStation 4 games in one simple step: handing the disc to a friend.