Retailers may use new technology to prevent disc theft

Retail stores have experimented with different methods to prevent the theft of games in the past. Some stores surround the disc case in a thick plastic prison cell, some have games locked in display cases and others keep the games behind the counter where only employees have access. All these methods have their advantages and disadvantages but none of them are perfect. Starting in the fourth quarter of 2010 retailers may adapt a new system that uses radio frequencies to unlock discs once they are sold.

The Entertainment Merchants Association proposed that retail stores could earn up to $6 billion a year if it switches to this new system. Under this system, disc based media such as games, Blu-ray discs and DVDs will be unplayable until they are scanned at checkout. A specific radio frequency then unlocks the disc and makes it playable from that point on.

In an effort to appease critics that may think this is another case of digital rights management (DRM), the vice president of public affairs for the EMA Sean Bersell spoke to GameSpot and said this is not the case. He says this technology is not meant to stop people from making illegal copies of disc media but rather to prevent theft from stores in general.

The president of the Entertainment Consumers Association, Hal Halpin, also spoke to GameSpot about how videogame publishers may react to this method. He doesn’t see publishers going along with the idea unless the EMA could guarantee the games could not be resold at a later date.

Via [GameSpot] Read [Geek]