PlayStation loses EU court battle to stop sale of a 'parasite mod' because, among other things, a book writer can't stop the reader from skipping ahead.

PlayStation just lost a landmark case that could set a precedent for cheating software within the EU. This is probably better for consumers than it may sound at first.

EuroNews reported that PlayStation was recently involved in a legal battle with Datel who were selling software to cheat on videogames. The software in question allowed players to get unlimited boosts in MotorStorm. However, it also allowed them to control the game using motion controls. This seems to be a more innocent way to cheat.

The case was brought to the highest court of the EU, the Court of Justice. Datel won the case. The judges disagree with Sony's claim that the software "latches onto... like parasites" the console. They maintain that it only impacts the RAM and not the program.

"The Directive on legal protection of computer programmes does not allow a holder of this protection to prohibit marketing by a tier party of software that merely changes variables temporarily transferred... The directive only protects the intellectual creation as reflected in the text the source code and object codes of the computer program."

The EU is fine with the sale of mods, cheats, and any other software that only affects a game's RAM data, whether it's on a PC or not.

In a court opinion he presented in April, Advocate-General Maciej szpunar added: "The writer of a detective book cannot prevent the reader of the novel from skipping ahead to the end to find out who is the killer, even if it would spoil the enjoyment of reading and ruin author's attempts to maintain suspense."

This does not stop Sony from banning users who violate their Terms of Service Agreements. The EU is not giving you carte blanche in Helldivers 2 to spawn unlimited samples, or anything else. It's just that it's not illegal to sell these items for use. The person who buys them will make the decision on whether or not they are likely to get into trouble with their accounts.

There are many reasons to be happy about this, especially if you like mods or believe that you should be able to control the software and hardware that you buy. While the detective novel comparison is a bit messy, games are much more complex than that. I agree with the sentiment and Sony's description of these tools as "parasites" is a lot more bizarre.

Cheating in multiplayer is bad, but who cares about cheating in single-player games? Should Sony be able legally to punish someone for modifying hardware they own or selling tools to modify it? I don't think so. Not to mention, software like this includes accessibility tools that disabled people can use to play videogames. These gamers are using software that (uncharitably speaking) could be considered cheating all the time.

Not to mention that accessibility options like high-contrast graphics, sound cues and toggles which stop you from dying are becoming more and more popular. Even if some companies haven't yet figured out how to accommodate colour-blind people (I'm still not mad, Larian! I pinky swear), I don’t think that any company should be able to dictate whether or not others do it. Let them play.