During the last hours, The PlayStation 5 has been placed at the epicenter of rumors and informationbut unlike what one would expect, i.e. with news or leaks about the expected Pro model, changes in commercial strategy, some next-gen progress or the announcement of a more or less expected game, it was for Sony at all -current policies that sometimes surprise us some decisions… in short, questionable at best.

It all started when YouTuber RGT 85 posted something that surprised many and this is it Sony would decide to ban second-hand sales of PlayStation 5 games. This may still make sense if we are talking about digital editions, it is true that Europe is moving to legal protection of this option, but according to this first information, the technology company would also intend to prevent the sale of games in physical support according to its terms of use.

It is clear that such a decision, secretly introduced by Sony in legal terms, It would mean a frontal attack on user rights and of course it should get a quick and strong response from its own and regular clients, because its policies are actually generally headed in the opposite direction. So is it true? And in that case, how is it possible that Sony acted with impunity with such a surprising measure?

I’ll start by answering the main question that opens this article and that some of you may be asking.: yes, Sony’s legal terms prohibit the sale of our second-hand games on physical media. You’ve already seen it in the tweet above this paragraph, so I don’t think you’ll be too surprised when you read it. Now, what would you say to me if I told you that this is not really something new and unique to the PlayStation 5, but rather has been with Sony’s console since its inception? Well it is as you can see tweet according to this paragraph

Indeed, Since its inception, Sony has wanted to reserve the right to prevent the sale of second-hand games, a privilege that is designed to be shared with their editors. Not really that loud, but it’s actually not the first time that a similar controversy has been generated when someone “rediscovers” this controversial Sony policy and has the ability to make noise condemning it (which is, of course, fully defensible). In 2015, I wrote a newspaper article about the same in a medium that no longer exists and also said that it was not the first time.

Sony presents this limitation, but in reality it’s a toast to the sunand for many reasons, among which I doubtless remained the strong public response it would receive. It is true that there are markets and markets, but we can be quite sure that the reaction of users and regulators would be particularly harsh. In addition, the practical implementation of such a measure could be a technical and logistical hell, which represents another obstacle.

So, in summary, yes, Sony has banned the sale of your PlayStation 5 (and 4, and 3, etc.) games second hand on physical media, but for all the decades of the PlayStation’s existence it was never put into practiceeven though market conditions were more favorable.