Top Publishers Not Willing To Declare Their Next-Gen Used Games Policies

There’s been quite a fuss over the past few weeks about used games. On most current gen platforms, every game you purchase becomes your property. If you wish to return a game to a store in order to get a discount, that’s your right. If you wish to lend or sell your game to someone else, you can do that. The current stipulations are that publishers are allowed to enforce online passes, which need to be purchased online if a game that has already used its free code on one console.

Luckily, there have been no further used games hardware specifications added to any 8th generation console, now that Microsoft has backed down from their proposed features. As well, EA Games has recently abandoned their online passes altogether, citing the feedback from their players. Will Activision, Ubisoft and Bethesda follow suit?

According to IGN, they are all undecided. It’s a smart move whether or not they do intend to restrict used games. If they step forward and stay pro-consumer, they open themselves up to harsher fallback if they ever utilize an online pass in the future. If any of the publishers announced that they would used online passes, it opens them up to criticism from gamers, as well as a golden opportunity from competition to oppose online passes themselves.

Hopefully the used games discussion becomes a thing of the past, as we usher in a revisited age of consumer rights. However, it’s unlikely that we will be free to trade our games for long.