UPDATE: On November 17th (Pacific Time), the PlayStation network will undergo maintenance. Once this maintenance window has completed, the new policy will apply. If you want to purchase content under the current rules, please do so before this maintenance begins on November 17th.
We’d like to inform you of some upcoming changes to the usage policies for PlayStation Network game content. As of November 18, 2011, the number of devices that can be activated on one PlayStation Network account for game content purchased from the PlayStation Store will be updated as follows:
For game content purchased after November 18, 2011, a new policy will apply and the number of devices that can be activated will be as follows:
- PS3: Users will be able to play the game on up to 2 activated PS3 systems.
- PSP: Users will be able to play the game on up to 2 activated PSP systems.
Please note that this update will not affect game content purchased before November 18. The PSP rights include PSP-1000/2000/3000 series as well as the PSPgo system.
PlayStation Network users are able to change the activation setting through each device, and Sony Computer Entertainment plans to provide a new PlayStation Network account management website where users will be able to deactivate particular devices attached to their PlayStation Network account via their PC.
For more details on how to activate/deactivate the devices, please visit here or contact consumer services.
Sony, respectfully this is a dumb decision. I share the account with my friend (Who bought me the ps3), my 2 cousins and another close friend. Whenever a game is about to be released on the PSN store, an upcoming game, even a DLC, we talk about who’s gonna get it. You keep us playing your amazing console with your amazing exclusives and regular common games. Dropping it down to only 2 limits the chances I’ll be able to enjoy a game with my cousins or friends, yeah we can eventually buy the content ourselves to share with whoever else we’re sharing it with but what’s wrong about enjoying it at the same time instead of a week or month difference of us not having it? I say we keep the account sharing the way we have it and drop this decision. Look at the comments and still reply to this comment saying it’s still a good decision. Do the right thing, before you end up changing the slogan because you’ve been taking away too many things and restricting a lot of what the playstation can do. Keep us your loyal customers here instead of punishing us with dumb decisions, if anything reward us with more exclusives, more things that the playstation can do and have us being glad we own a PS3 and not any other console.
Holy crap you guys are still whining?
To answer the question “What about us who own 3 PS3’s, what do we do now”? You buy the content you want to play. Thats how it should be. It shouldn’t be one person buys something and shares it with 3 or 4 friends or family. If you live in a house and theres 2 other people that play COD with you and you want the addon I think the other 2 should also have to buy it.
Its funny, you all claim that you can’t afford to buy multiple games but you can afford multiple PS3 systems? Oh and I have yet to see anyone answer a legitimate reason to have more than 1 PS3 aside from multiple ones in a family and even then is everyone really playing the same content? I doubt it.
As far as “hard to remain loyal so Sony”…good luck with that. What is your alternative? Xbox? Ok have fun playing to play online and see if you can gameshare on that system. You talk about loyal, you guys own Sony but instead you want to act like ingrates.
10 questions
1 will the site be online on 8 november?
2 didn’t jack tretton make a comerciall a few years ago that sony was the only one were it was possible to have up to 5 systems on your account?
3 Do you need to be online with your ps3 to deactivate it?
If not can you deactivate a limitles amount of consoles, times?
That would mean you can put your dlc on a lot of ps3s and not go online with it.
That would make it easier to missuse it.
Okay!!!! what?! I dont want to complain about sony because i have always supported them but this is sooo dumb!! I own three ps3s myself, your telling me i wont be able to play my game on all 3 systems…im pissed
Eric Lempel, what others have said is true. You are indeed a coward. First you hide behind your executive assistant instead of replying yourself. Then you let your false troll fanatics attack everyone who calls you out. but your not getting away with it this time. You’ve declared war on your entire legion of fans this time. I’m starting to see why people are bandying about names like fascist and communist. A better description of you and the company you work for would be organized crime. You make false promises, lie through your teeth then further victimize everyone with your ugly strongarm tactics. Absolutely dispicable.
Wicko13 to to http://www.ftc.gov I think it is. Theres a complaint form tailor made for situations like this. I urge every one of us to make use of it. The more who speak out against this the sooner action will be taken to ensure it stops.
I don’t like the idea of features be taken away.It makes PS3 do less then it was advertised.Just saying
Ok I have to post this again cause I was just censored but I was telling the above poster to go to the FTC website and use the online complaint form. We all should do so. The more of us who report this violation the sooner the law will properly deal with sony and their scheming.
4 if you need to be online you cant deactivate your dead ps3s ?
5 the games i now already have ,and there is comming dlc for it after 18 nov can i use it on 2 or 5 consoles?
If on 2 that means youve missleaded me and i get a game that doesnt do what i want, because if i had known it before i wouldnt have bought it.
6 will you give me a refund for all my expenses like my then 2 ps3s that i will not use anymore as much as i want, and the tvs and games etc etc?
7 old games i have to redownload cause of broken hd or so, can i use them still on 2 or 5 consoles?
@ CynicalNerd
-Im pretty sure If you would go to a store and buy a game such as black ops you dont have to have 3 copies to play, because you can move the disc around. With the dlc you cannot just move it around, its very nice to be able to get on any ps3 in my house and have the dlc but i guess we are “stealing” from sony if we all dont buy it when were from the same house! That is a joke…im pretty sure if i own 3 ps3s there is no reason for me to have to buy the dlc for each one…
8 what about subaccounts, is that the same.
9 why are you scaring me away from you cause i was a lifetime sony fan had over 700 ps1 games and over 800 ps2 games.
10 do you really think you earn money with this, cause i am not gonna buy 2 psvitas anymore cause i have 3 psps already, and i am not buying any dlc anymore, and i thiink there are a lot of people who will join me for this.
Almost my complete friendslist will join me already
@ chevano
me and my entire friends list is following u!
no more $ for SONY & Dev, see who’s crying in 6 month
So now people want to boycott sony? You aren’t going to buy dlc that will stick it to them! Only one problem…the ones who suffer from not buying dlc are the companies that make it. and you the consumer. Have fun not getting extra content out of your game because you are too poor too afford multiple dlc for your 15 PS3’s.
Also I don’t recall this being a feature that was really advertised. I didn’t even know it worked on up to 5 PS3’s until I had heard the term game sharing and googled in a couple months ago.
Stop blaming Sony, its the free loaders fault.
And still not a single legitimate reaeson as to why anyone would own more than 1 ps3.
I have more ps3s because its possible and i watch movies in every room, and i play also in every room.
Its the world turned around why should i pay for anyone elses misconduct.
If you do such things do it on a new platform and not on one thats already a long time in use, i even think its illegal to do so.
the most will put no more buying dlc in their comment.
Spread the word.
to be honest i think all of these features getting removed needs to stop.
@CynicalNerd
how can you call someone who got something giving to him a “free loaders”
so now people should stop passing retail game disc because the guy dint pay for the game?
that mean you want people to be that selfish?
i tought PS3 community was not a bunch of hater and i clearly see that is only the case for peoples who actually has no friends or no money to share with others
SONY NEVER mentionned about the gamesharing stoping process.
you ONLY guys think they are doing this because of people sharing is account
BTW sharing account is something you always want to NOT DO, because you know that if the guy PS3 broke or he just format HD or sell it you just loose one of your beloved slot.
that mean peoples who’s sharing, is only sharing with a VERY VERY close friends or family members.
sure man i’ll boycott SONY that’s the only way i can be eard
i spend over 100$ EVERY MONTH
BE 120% sure I’ll NEVER do this again
I prefer buying 2 time a used game at EBGAME than paying 2 time for DIGITAL DATA that worth NOTHING without internet connection.
PS2 backwards compatibilty was PS3’s strongest selling point.It sucks buying PS2 software and not being able to use it on the PS3.
Chumps defending this crap like sony’s gonna give them a reward for being absolutely rude, none of you have any clue just what you are praising.
Others as myself who will be directly affected by this measure can only do one thing, vote with our money. which i will warily do in regards to your products and content going forward.
This move is a double edged sword and it will come back to bite you in the end, i’ve spent thousands of dollars on your content in the past so that my immediate family under my roof could benifit from my own purchases under this system that you used yourselfs to push sales.
I was wrong to trust you, since now your unreasonably pulling the rug on the whole point i ever decided to spend that much money on said content and devices.
Honestly i feel betrayed, going from 5 to 2 is one of the most illogical descions you possibly could come to, 3 would of made perfect sense and i would have been completely willing to adapt to these new measures but with only 2 it is bound to create contention in my family.
Please reconsider.
i ask everybody on my friendslit to say in there comment
BUY NO MORE DLC
Spread the word people , if its the only we thing we can try to stop this nonsense
5 is good because i usually download mappacks and they are expensive but sharing with friends they give me little money which is really good,,, lowering to 2 is not going be good they should leave it just how it is.
So I actually own 5 PS3 systems and they are all in my home and now I am going to have to remember what system I was doing what on so that I can deactivate it before going to do something on another one in a different room? This is the first time I have ever complained about any of the recent changes but this one has about got me decided that I will be selling my PS3 systems and not bothering to own a gaming console since I hate the XBox and the WII is worthless.
It was a nice run Sony but I think you shot yourself in the foot with this one.
The shoulda just put it on 3 ps3s. 2 is too little and 5 is really big.
If a player logs into his PlayStation 3 account on a friend’s system, he can download any game he has already purchased. “You can send that content to four other friends for that initial investment. We want to get the game in as many hands as possible.”
Those were the words of Jack Tretton on a conference before the launch of the PS3.
This move is incredibly short sighted and will drastically affect profits and hurt small devs.
Gamesharers not only spend money on the games they share, but they buy tons more than most non-gamesharers. We buy all those little hyped games — giving much needed sales to all the little devs that otherwise get ignored. Sure, we don’t spend full price per person, but we spend far more money on games simply because we can share them. For example, there are many $10 games I would never, ever buy. However, if my group wants them, I don’t mind spending $2.
Sony will soon regret this decision, as our wallets dry up.
When I buy a PS3 disc, I can play it on any console I want with no added restrictions or hassle.
When I buy a digital game for my PC, I can install it on as many PCs as I want without hassle.
I should be able to do the same thing with digital games bought on the PSN.
The anger isn’t about not being able to game share. Nor is it about having to spend a few more dollars. It’s about the fact that dictating where and how I can play the games I buy is a &*^%ed up practice. You have got to be pretty brain dead to not see that.
also: from PlayStation Customer Support
I purchased some downloadable game content on the PLAYSTATION®Network. Part of the product description says the content can be used or downloaded on up to five (5) activated PLAYSTATION®3 system units. What does that mean?
Answer: This means that the content that you purchased may be used by other users on an activated PLAYSTATION®3 system unit after you downloaded the content onto your PLAYSTATION®3 system unit. Some content may require the user to have a PLAYSTATION®Network account, and other content may require you to have additional game content that may be sold separately. For example, you may need to purchase a full game in order to use the character that you purchased on the PLAYSTATION®Network for the game.
Please review the use restrictions associated with the content you purchased. The content may be played up on to 5 activated PLAYSTATION®3 system units at any one time. PLAYSTATION®3 system units may be deactivated so that you can change which PLAYSTATION®3 system units are activated at any time.
WHAT A DISINCENTIVE to buy! CAVEAT EMPTOR! What a disappointment. Have you no trust in your customers?
I’ve 2 PS3s & 2 PSPs. We anticipated adding more & buying a Vita or two. I’ve good money in these systems & stuck by PS through thick & thin. Now, I see no reason to expand our collection with other PS devices with you’re limiting my use further.
We’ve never abused PSN policy or gameplay. You’re efforts are better spent on zeroing in on violators. Don’t cast such a wide net. Don’t punish we who play by your rules. Rewarding good behavior goes further than punishing us for the failures of others.
I’ve over 2 dozen Sony products in my house today. Been with you for decades. Holiday plans were for adding several more, including HDTVs & sound systems. With this news, we’re re-evaluating our brand loyalty.
It may be true that hardware follows software & consumers will buy the machines to run the games/software they want to use. But in our house, principle trumps both. I’ll just explain to my kids about further negative effects on their live of yet another corporate giant .
Please rethink you policy in this matter. We’ve stood by you all these years.
Hmm some tekst doesnt appear online.
Well I have three PS3s so will you be refunding the price I paid for one of those PS3s now that I can really only use two of them??? Way to kill sales for existing PS3 owners… I realize people are taking advantage of this but this is totally unfair for those of us who actually own three PS3s or more… Maybe I should trade one in and buy an Xbox 360… Not a happy with Sony at the moment…
@724
Thank you for posting Mr. Trettons remarks, i could not find the vid for my initial post but i knew they were truely spoken.
Sony please do reconsider this descion. Find a way to punish the guilty and not the honest families that bought into your entertainment with the impression that in doing so they were investing money into only the BEST quality of entertainment in the industry.
There has got to be the another way, i dont think you realise the gravity of what this will do to so very many families like my own that own many devices on the grounds of what your very own sales pitch was, that you were better when it came to this sort of thing…
I’ll say again.
Sony, please reconsider. Two is too drastic.
C’mon can you blame people who want to share their content within their household or to a friend they know personally? It’s bad enough they make us pay for DLC that should be (or perhaps is already is) on the disc. No they don’t force us to buy the content buy they sure do make it seem like it’s a must have to get the full experience of the game. A good portion of games out there require an online pass (per account) to play online. Just imagine when PSN becomes a pay to play service next gen.
As far as digital games, how can they not automatically make a profit? It’s a digital D/L… which means no case, no boxart, no booklet and etc. Easy money especially when the game was half made like most independent game on PSN that i’ve personally wasted my money on.
First, they remove the Other OS
Then, Online Passes,
Now…. This.
What’s next? You’ll pay for each time you log in the PSN?
Sincerely, there ARE other ways to avoid the sharing of games among other five people. In Steam, for an example, you can buy contents with friends and get many discounts and even bonuses. My opinion? Sony’s killing itself slowly.
Also, why is it so hard to believe people can have 3 or more PS3’s in a house at a time. I personally have two of my own, my main and one that I repaired YLOD myself and use to split time between the two so hopefully the cheap consoles don’t fail again. Not including the 3rd PS3 in my house for the other people in my family to use for lite gaming and services like Netfilx so having 3 or more PS3’s in one house is definitely possible being that lifespan is roughly 3-4 (That’s if you treat the console like a king). Most people I know had their system fail within about 2 years.
Last thing, for you people thinking this is about gamesharing, think again. Gamesharing has been around since day 1 and has been heavy ever since, do you honestly think it to them this long to put an end to it? This about the billion or they are expected to lose this year and big part of that being the hacking incident which is Sony’s fault.
Well I too will be affected by this shortsighted decision
I currently own 4 PS3’s, and 2 PSP’s. I was nice being able to have a PS3 for each TV in the home and CHOOSING which room I would like to be entertained, as well as CHOOSING the form of entertainment. Some people would watch Netflix, others use it for blu-rays, and often me and my son would play games. I had the opportunity to purchase a 360, but SONY allowed me to not purchase multiple copies of the same content, this worked for me and worked for SONY as I bought more than i would like to admit on PSN.
Taking away another feature this late in the life cycle is a mistake. Combining the PSP and the VITA in th console count is yet another mistake.Any user with a PSP that upgrades to a VITA has filled there allowed portable activations.
I still have 2 psONEs, and 3 ps2s that still work. obviously they wont count against the “home console” count, but sony seems to be punishing the users that upgrade. What happens when the PS4 comes out? We all will be forced to de-activate our ps3s, give up all our content, then have ps3 backward compatibility taken away (if it gets included in the first place). There is nothing stopping sony from acting this way.
#724 is right. Sony welcomes sharing games with 4 other friends. and proof from news back in 2006. http://www.wired.com/gaming/gamingreviews/news/2006/10/71982
deciding factor of getting multiple PS3s and spending on psn is the ability to download psn games/dlc to multiple PS3s. This activation reduction is disaster. You should at the same time allows consumers to return extra PS3s for full refund. Also, you should allows consumers to close psn account and offer full refund on all games/dlc purchases because i would not have spent hundreds of dollars if PS3 only allows 2 from the very beginning.
And my psn+ subscription expiration is well beyond Nov 18, 2001. You should allow me to cancel psn+ and give me full refund.
This is just plain wrong move. And the consequence is huge. I myself am a big Sony supporters. I have tons of Sony products. I am cancelling my PS Vita & PS 3D Display preorders. And i am not buying another Sony products if Sony does not listen to customers and continue to hurt customers. It’s NOT just psn, it’s about your brand.
Don’t be Netflix, take this back before it turns into catashrophe!
#724 is right. Sony welcomes sharing games with 4 other friends. and proof from news back in 2006. You can find the news easily. I found it on wired.com
deciding factor of getting multiple PS3s and spending on psn is the ability to download psn games/dlc to multiple PS3s. This activation reduction is disaster. You should at the same time allows consumers to return extra PS3s for full refund. Also, you should allows consumers to close psn account and offer full refund on all games/dlc purchases because i would not have spent hundreds of dollars if PS3 only allows 2 from the very beginning.
And my psn+ subscription expiration is well beyond Nov 18, 2001. You should allow me to cancel psn+ and give me full refund.
This is just plain wrong move. And the consequence is huge. I myself am a big Sony supporters. I have tons of Sony products. I am cancelling my PS Vita & PS 3D Display preorders. And i am not buying another Sony products if Sony does not listen to customers and continue to hurt customers. It’s NOT just psn, it’s about your brand.
Don’t be Netflix, take this back before it turns into catashrophe!
Have you got a direct link to proof of this?
Cant find real proof myself.
Sony, are you reading this. Over 700 people (and counting) are mad because of this stupid decision. Well, I guess I’m not buying that third PS3. Well, its not like you want my money or anything. In fact, I’m about to get me a 360. Man, being a PS3 user is hard.
Just type “You can send that content to four other friends for that initial investment. We want to get the game in as many hands as possible.”
at google and you will find it.
I tried to put link before and my comment won’t post as a result.
I saw someone whining about Other/OS and Online passes? You realize thats not Sony..right? Go direct your misguided hate at EA and Activision. Idiots. For Other/OS? LOL it was a dumb feature that nobody even knew about until Sony said they were taking it off.
Third, yeah it was nice to be able to have content usable on 5 PS3 machines. But like everything else in life, it gets ruined by some people who abuse it. We just can’t have nice things.
Sony isn’t as evil as you think. Its not like they sat around and said “Hey what can we take away from our consumer to tick them off”. No it was more like “This game sharing thing is a problem, we need to to come up with a viable compromise”.
2 is a good compromise. If it was up to me I would say limit it to 1 ps3. Its not like if your ps3 breaks you will lose it. You just deactivate it and then get a new one. The only people suffering are game share pirates and people who are too cheap to buy their own content so they free load off of their friends.
Ah thx got it.
@ DJ 307…LMFAO. Really? Really? Really? This blog has about 40 people who are upset posting over and over again. Most normal people are like “Eh…IDC…life goes on”.
Why on earth do you need a third ps3? One for the bedroom…one for living room and…what? bathroom? You need to get out more brah…instead of spending your money on games…spend it on some nice clothes…go out and meet a girl and get laid. 40 year old virgin might of been a funny movie…but its just sad in real life.
Well first you Sony take off backward from recent PS3 models but you offer PS2 classics, after that you took off too Other OS to “secure the console” but even with that sceners hacked the machine.
And now your big mistake reducing the activation from 5 to 2???? WTF¡¡¡¡
I got more than 3 systems but due to this I WILL NEVER BUY ANY PS family console and I WILL NEVER BUY ANYTHING FROM PSN
I was wanting to get a Vita and Persona 4 Golden but NOT ANYMORE.
Maybe your domain in video game market will end soon, you take off features and make the customers angry and disappointed with childish measures like that.
What will be next?? PSN will turn like Xbox LIve and Plus will vanish¡¡¡¡ You will take off features from the consoles and network due to your “improvement and legal right to protect digital media”
*sigh*
IOS stores and digital music distribution are not so lame as your new PSN policies regarding a limit on DL content that we legally own.
Don’t you read this blog Sony CEO’s?? A lot of users are not very happy about this and thus they are cancelling new purchases of hardware and even thinking on cancel PSN purchases. Such a negative effect on your way to improve things, so unfriendly measures.
We are not jerks or making abuse on DL, if we download in up to 5 systems is BECAUSE WE ARE ALLOWED cuz we purchased the content, that is NOT PIRACY
And the PSN Pass in future, no more online in our systems because of this no more than 2, such a pity.
Making a very cold and yeah a fair analysis, that anonymous team and others where right in some part regarding your conduct with the customers, messing with them changing random features in a non very honest way.
SCEI SCEA SCEE SNEA: It seems you don’t care about your customers, even the most loyal, well you lost another one, ME¡¡ and I’ll bet I will not be the only one acting that way, but thanks for everything, was fun during the time it lasted.
But I’ll say too:
I wanted to buy more PS3 and a Vita and Persona 4 Golden and more PSN content but due to this NEVER TO BUY anything from you, not even a non video game console.
My preorder for a japanese Vita now is officially canceled among with 2 new PS3 system and a PSP Go
This will be a fuss so big mess, we’ll see what will happen next.
What a disappointing move from Sony HQ, we need people like Kutaragi Ken, since Hirai is in top things get worse and worse to the people and the world of Playstation, it will end someday thank to this stupid whims.
I’m starting to believe @CynicalNerd is a mock sony account or some dev’s account. We get the point that you support this move. Other people have real life friends and a family that they have in their gaming circle. I don’t see how you make that into piracy. It’s no different than when I let a friend borrow one of my discs. When you look at it, a disc can be share way more than 5 times. Question, have you ever rented (Ex. GameFly/Blockbuster) or borrowed a game from someone? I know the answer is yes. So why do you believe everyone should purchase on their own account? (From post #797 “If it was up to me I would say limit it to 1 ps3.”)
There are people who actually split the cost of PSN content which is no different than splitting the cost of a disc game. Also answer this from one of my previous posts. Gamesharing has been around since day 1 and has been heavy ever since, do you honestly think it to them this long to put an end to it or do you believe this is a result of Sony’s financial problems and the billion or so that Sony is expected to lose this year (reported just last week), a big part from the hacking incident which is Sony’s fault?
Great way to start vita-which was supposed to have the ability to use full ps3 psn games on a road trip but now we’d have to deactivate a ps3 to do that-BREAKING PROMISES BEFORE A SYSTEM RELEASE A NEW SONY LEVEL OF CONCEIT HAS BEEN REACHED.
Between ms and sony i’ve been much more impressed by the likes of uncharted and lbp than simply halo continued as if you want innovation on xbox you must look to xbla as it’s still mostly a shooter,sports system while sony has 3d dot game ,disgaea and valkyria chronicles,they seem to forget how they got where they are and worse yet WHO PUT THEM THERE!!
HINT : WE ALL DID AND THIS IS OUR “REWARD” FOR SUPPORTING THEM,NICE.
Now I am a dev because I have no problem with this move?
See my issue is that I know for a fact that not that many people will be affected negatively by this. Most of the people on here? Just whining because thats all they do in this blog every week. “wahhh wahhh why won’t you guys release more PSX classics…i need 15 year old content!” “wahh wahhh cross game chat” “wahhh wahhh my other/os was taken out even though i dont know what it does” “wahhh wwahhh i cant play the same game on my 5 different playstations!”
Digital content is different from physical content. You can’t sell it back, and its yours. If you have a circle of friends that you guys want to be cheap and not pay for all your games and free load them off each other…then get bent. You guys are part of the problem with video gamers these days. You are a small step up above people who illegally hack their PS3’s and play stolen game images on them.
As far as rentals go? I paid for my rental. And again its a physical game. You can still let your friends borrow your digital games…but hey guess what..now you’ll just have to let them borrow their whole PS3.
Again not one person has given me a legitamite reason that I have not been able to debunk as to why this is a bad idea. If you can give me a circumstance that would justify a person owning more than 2 PS3’s in one house…then by all means I will say I was wrong.
Family owned PS3’s do not count…as with any game…each person should have their own account and their own games.
I’d also like to point out the stupidity of Dracula..numbernumber something something from up there.
The PS2 BC compatibility on a ps3 was the main selling point of a PS3…according to him. So the main selling point of an HD system…was the ability to play one generation old games…in SD? You should be working in marketing. Your talents are being wasted at that local gas station you work at.
Still loving how all these people were just about to go out the door to buy another PS3. 250$ on a system they already own but then suddenly they are upset because they can’t afford to keep buy 10$ games.
I guarentee you that if sony announced it was going to be 3 ps3’s instead of 2…everyone would complain they were about to go buy a fourth.
I have two PS3’s, one older one and a new 320 gig slim. When I bought the new one, the old one got boxed up. Still can’t fathom why anyone would need to own more than 1 with the same content on it.