Oh yes......well done Sony.

I can't quite see how this measure can be seen as a positive for people who buy games. PSPGo has absolutely failed because who wants to pay the same retail price for a digital copy of a game with no resale value?

Furthermore, who wants to buy a retail game they can't trade-in? Sony, Ubisoft, EA and all need to accept that the new games market is quite reliant on pre-owned - and unless digital copies are SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper than retail copies then many people simply won't bother.

Music downloads are very different to the games market. If you buy a song from iTunes for 59p or 79p, and you listen to it a couple of times, you may have your moneys worth. Paying £40 for a game that promises to be amazing - then turning out to be too short, too easy and a big letdown (and we could all name dozens of those games!!) is NOT getting your moneys worth. The ability to trade-in unwanted and completed games is part and parcel of this industry. The age-old argument always harps back to - if a game is seriously good, people won't trade it in.

As for their choice of game - well I don't think anyone in their right mind would buy SOCOM on PSP anyway. I mean, what a God-awful title that is going to be.

So yes, well done Sony. Just when we thought we were turning the corner, you have to go and say and do something ridiculous.

"The ability to trade-in unwanted and completed games is part and parcel of this industry"

For now.

It is about time, the publishers have addressed the used resale market which is predominately controlled by few large multi-national specialty retailers. Publisher can offer more to consumer by having a lower cost after certain amount of time, giving consumer a choice to purchase at value price. Well done!

@ Indieretailer

It is VERY naive of you to think that the price of digital products will come down. That was supposed to happen when CD's took over from cartridges. Buying a PSP game from GAME, for example, is normally the same price as buying from PlayStation Store. If I wait 6 months, the game will be even cheaper than it was when it was new.

Take Xbox Live - why pay £19.99 for a mint digital copy when you can buy a boxed retail copy for under a tenner, and have the option to trade it in or sell it on eBay when you're done.

Publishers and developers want digital distribution for one thing - profit. Publishers sell DIRECTLY to the consumer, instead of selling to a distributor to make profit - who has to sell onto a retailer to make a profit - who then sells to consumer to make a profit. They want digital distribution because instead of selling to a distributor for £25 per copy, AND having to fork out for a box, inlay, manual and disc to be pressed, they can sell direct to the consumer for £40 and make a shed-load more profit.

Digital Distribution will NOT take over until the CONSUMER says so. And judging by the disastrous FAIL that is the PSPgo, the consumer of video games is clearly not ready for a digital-only system - DESPITE what Sony might think. Until a solution to trade-in and pre-owned is found which mutually benefits everyone, all Sony will do with this is drive business away from their games.

i dont get it, so EA can do it, but when sony do its wrong?

this was inevitable, piracy has forced a hand, which hinders the pre-owned market, be it indirectly or otherwise.

to me should they do this? maybe... however if retailers would give the publisher some money back from the sale of pre-owned we wouldnt be seeing the likes of the Mass Effects network in a game.

its simple to do, edit the license agreement to retail on games, not for resale without express permission from the publisher. pay the publisher a yearly fee or a fee per unit... sorted. simples.

PSPgo is no more of a fail than the DSi or the DSiXL. what hindered the go and the kickstart of the full digital download market was its asking price. if sony reduced the go to the £100 mark we would start seeing a different tide in that market. no one can understand why a PSP without the expensive battery sucking UMD drive can be more expensive AND not have a longer battery life.

my go is fab, glad i got it.

Great job, guys. Customers don't think your software is worth keeping, so instead of making it better, you're going to try and force them to keep it. That should make them happy.

@meeee,

"PSPgo is no more of a fail than the DSi or the DSiXL."

Man, I understand you like the PSPgo, and you have a right to, but you can only spin stuff so far. That's got to be one of the silliest statements I've ever read.

I only buy digital only copies of games that are less than $4. For instance I buy $1 - $4 iphone games and even some PSN mini games without issue. I know I will get my moneys worth out of them. Anything more and I want the resell value to help afford new games. As much as I hate that developers don't get anything for gamestop traded games I do see that without that resell value there will be much less games purchased because quite a few people depend on resell to afford new games.

Now if they could reduce top notch games down to $20 I might consider digital only. But for even $30 I would not buy digital only without having the resell value.

The obvious solution is for PSN to buy back games at some percentage based on how old the game is. It would be very easy for them to do. They just delete the copy on your system. That would be less overhead than even gamestop.

Sony can join the rest of the companies who seem to think we dont own these games. I paid for it I own it... I want to loan it I can. I want to sell it I can... I want to trade it I can. We need to make our politicians stand up for us like the to in EU and make these draconian companies give us back the rights to the games we own. Join EFF to help fight these robbers. https://www.eff.org

"PSPgo is no more of a fail than the DSi or the DSiXL."

LOL, the Pspgo did so badly, and still does, that they are considering "relaunching" the product. The funniest thing is that the PSPGO did so badly, it actually increased the sales of the PSP 3000.

DSi and DSiLL are pwning it, dont even try to bother defending it, you are showing your stupidity!

PSPgo is the lamest gaming device ever. nobody has one. my mate works in a shop and said they'd sold less than 10 since launch.

When DD becomes the norm for buying video games, and it will, all you indies, (who are burrying your collective heads in the sand with regards to the futrure of video game distribution), are really going to be caught with your pants down.

For the rest of us who welcome and accept the invevitable, well, will all still working in this industry and youll be bagging up my monthly shop in TESCO.

I don't understand this drive for digital downloading especially when the 'it works for music' argument is used.

The music industry has thousands of radio and TV stations worldwide pumping out their content 24 hours a day, every day.

For a music publisher this is not just free advertising, but they also get paid every time a track is played.

Once boxed games are abandon in favour of digital downloading just where are the games publishers going to display their wares once their games are not 'in your face' on a shop shelf?

The internet? Well, the only way that is going to work is when you have a few sites only offering all available download, or the individual games are going to get lost in the clutter. Tesco Digital, anyone?

The video games industry is trying to emulate the music industry model but is missing the vital element of the games equivalent of airplay.