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"Rumours of a PS4 pre-owned games block have negatively impacted GameStop shares. Shares for the video game retailer dropped by 5% following the discovery of a Sony patent that could theoretically eliminate the ability to play pre-owned games on future systems.   However, despite the patent filing, industry analyst Michael Pachter believes that a move to outlaw pre-owned sales would only damage Sony. &amp;quot;Sony benefits little from a unilateral decision to block games,&amp;quot; Pachter told investors (via Kotaku).  &amp;quot;The company&amp;#039;s first party software sales represent less than 10 percent of overall sales on its consoles, and it is unlikely that blocking used games would result in a lift of more than 10 percent in new game sales.  &amp;quot;That means that Sony&amp;#039;s sales would rise only marginally if the PS4 blocked used games.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Sony would be materially hurt if its console blocked used games and competitor consoles from Microsoft and Nintendo did not,&amp;quot; he added.  Pachter went on to speculate that the technology would instead be provided to individual publishers on an optional basis, though he does not believe any existing companies would be &amp;quot;foolhardy enough to take such a risk&amp;quot;. Sony has previously distanced itself from a pre-owned sales block, saying that it would be &amp;quot;anti-consumer&amp;quot;. The company will reportedly announce their next-generation console at an event prior to this year&amp;#039;s E3 Gaming Expo. It was recently claimed that Sony&amp;#039;s next console will feature 4K resolution support in line with a rumoured new range of Sony TVs. Additional hardware details were leaked earlier this year, while EA&amp;#039;s Frank Gibeau revealed that he had seen both the PS4 and new Xbox, and suggested that the consoles would introduce gaming to a further billion people. Upcoming PS3 games include Puppeteer, Beyond: Two Souls and The Last of Us. Watch a trailer for The Last of Us below:  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/gaming/playstation-4/news/a448590/ps4-pre-owned-games-block-rumour-impacts-gamestop-shares/>