While PS4 itself won’t block pre-owned games, Sony has said any DRM is up to publishers, a sentiment which has been said before, but is back on topic today due to remarks made by SCEA boss Jack Tretton to GTTV. Sony has since issued at statement saying that any third-party DRM implemented on PS4 by publishers refers to playing used games online only.

According to SCEA boss Jack Tretton, “the DRM decision for third-party games will be up to publishers,” he told GTTV. First-party titles will not have DRM, which is something Sony can control.

“The DRM decision is going to have to be answered by the third parties, it’s not something we’re going to control, or dictate, or mandate, or implement,” he said. “There’s gonna be free-to-play, there’s gonna be every potential business model on there, and again, that’s up to their relationship with the consumer, what do they think is going to put them in the best fit.

“We’re not going to dictate that, we’re gonna give them a platform to publish on.”

PS4 will not require an always online connection and, it will not block the use of second hand titles, according to Tretton last night and Sony Worldwide boss Shuhei Yoshida back in February.

Yoshida said that any DRM on used games will be left up to the publisher in question, so today’s comment isn’t really a surprise.

Sony has issued the following statement to GameFront on Tretton’s comment today.

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According to Dan Race, senior director, corporate communications for Sony, Tretton’s statements were “referring specifically to playing used games online”

“The Online Pass program for PlayStation first-party games will not continue on PlayStation 4,” he said. “Similar to PS3, we will not dictate the online used game strategy (the ability to play used games online) of its publishing partners. As announced last night, PS4 will not have any gating restrictions for used disc-based games.

“When a gamer buys a PS4 disc they have right to use that copy of the game, so they can trade-in the game at retail, sell it to another person, lend it to a friend, or keep it forever.”

So there you go. Hope that clears it all up.