Gamasutra recently talked to John Hight, Director of External Production at SCEA Santa Monica about Sony’s plans for their E-Distribution Initiative. The project at Sony seems to be a competitor to Microsoft’s Xbox Live Arcade. Hight emphasizes some of the benefits on the cost side for Sony, claiming the service “lowers our cost of sales and eliminates inventory risk. It should help curtail used game sales and piracy.” Piracy has always been an issue for Sony; in the past the company has also made moves to try and restrict used game sales. Gamasutra also noted that Sony hopes to utilize the service for both first party and third party content. Microsoft’s Arcade titles have been largely third party developed. With Sony’s E-Distribution, and Nintendo’s Virtual Console, all three console manufacturers will have competing digital download services in this generation. Hopefully, the lower cost of entry on these platforms will mean gamers will see a more diverse game population in the future.