Rumor: PS4 to restrict used games. GameStop stock responds by crapping its pantaloons.

GameStop makes a lot of its money off duping scrubs like me into giving them my used games, and flipping the piggies for something comfortably close to the original price. If Sony has its way, this entire ecosystem of fanboy and fangirl exploitation is going to dry up like a motherfucker. Naturally, this has sent GameStop into a panic. You can find it running in circles, proclaiming the end of doom. Follow the  shouts until you find the man clad in horse skin, mouth slathered with gravy.

Kotaku:

GameStop’s stock price closed lower by $1.30—a five percent loss overall—after word this morning that Sony had applied for a patent on technology that could restrict how used games are played on its next console.

Used games are, of course, a cornerstone of the GameStop customer experience, whether trading them in for store credit toward other purchases or buying older releases for less than full price. The news was enough for the gaming industry analyst Michael Pachter of Wedbush Securities to send a note to investors that, while acknowledging the patent filing, downplayed the idea Sony’s next console would outright prohibit used or previously played games.

“Sony benefits little from a unilateral decision to block games,” he wrote. “The company’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. That means that Sony’s sales would rise only marginally if the PS4 blocked used games.”

Moreover, “Sony would be materially hurt if its console blocked used games and competitor consoles from Microsoft and Nintendo did not,” Pachter said. He maintained confidence in GameStop, rating it at “outperform” and setting a 12-month share price target of $33 for it. The stock currently sits at $24.36 a share; it opened the day at $25.44 and began falling at the time the Sony news spread.