Two big things happened the past week for PS5 players, and both of them lean into each other on a potentially big issue for gamers.
Last week a widespread issue hit all across PlayStation Network when Sony decided it was an opportune time to update their terms of service. Unlike previous times when policy updates hit users, it didn’t wait for you to log out and log back in. Instead players all over the world were immediately kicked from their games and forced to accept the new terms. It was a bit chaotic if you were online as Overwatch, Call of Duty, Fortnite, and many other online lobbies quickly dwindled to nearly no players as they were all swept to their login screens to accept the terms.
Players that were not online were met with the policy screen upon booting up their PS5, and no players could access PlayStation network, the store, or some content until they accepted. Clicking the “what’s new” tab didn’t really explain much, but some digging did lead to people finding changes to lead into a potential ID verification for PlayStation Network, coming soon to many regions.
Why is this important? A few days later a few players have discovered a “timer” on their new digital purchases that includes an embedded 30 day timer on their game. Digging deeper into this, the timer is a 30 day check for the digital license, players need to log in to PlayStation Network in that time frame to reset the timer to keep access to their game. Not checking in won’t remove the game from your library, but you won’t be able to play or access the game until you log in to PlayStation Network to verify the license.
Now some people might be thinking, “Who cares, I’m always online!” and that’s fair, but there are instances to be worried about with this. Let’s say you lose the internet, go on vacation, or for whatever reason can’t login to PlayStation in time to re verify the license. There are many instances where this can happen.
But does anyone remember when PlayStation Network went down in 2011? The service was down for 24 days, and disrupted for longer. Now imagine your license “expires” in that time frame and your whole digital library is inaccessible at no fault of your own. “But it never goes down!” which is great, don’t get me wrong, but what’s stopping PlayStation Network from just not existing? Sony has shut down 5 digital video services, and 3 digital music services for various reasons and took licenses with them. We also see services shutting down for PS3 already, the first console using PSN, so what happens when these units are outright shut off from accessing the network? If PlayStation isn’t their money maker anymore and they move on to a new service, do we just say goodbye to our games?
If your internet goes down for 30 days, you go on an extended vacation with no internet, or Sony decides to work on PSN for a month, have fun looking at your thumbnails I guess.
Who does it impact? It appears to only be for new purchases. All games purchased before March 2026 don’t seem to get the 30 day timer in the backend, while newly purchased games do.
Is it a glitch? Nobody knows yet. Originally the timer was for select PS Plus titles which are essentially rented from the PS Plus library. Obviously it was used to ensure you still had PS Plus and could access the games. There are also now reports that the timer is due to an added measure for the return policy, supposedly at 14 days (the period a game can be returned) the 30 day license will be changed to permanent again when the game can no longer be returned. Essentially this is to combat the glitch users found to keep a returned game on their console by disconnecting the internet. If true, entirely fair and justified.
However Sony has made no official statement. Their AI chatbot seems to confirm the use of a 30 day implementation, but it has been wrong before. Several days later, and lots of Saros advertising, and Sony hasn’t answered any questions (as of writing this) about the issue. So I guess someone needs to turn their PS5 internet off for 30 days and see what happens.
Sony didn’t even really apologize for their invasive policy update either. With the recent logging out of PSN to agree to new terms, it showed the power corporations have to take digital libraries from you. If Sony implements a new policy that you simply don’t agree with, like their incoming ID checks for example, then you’re out of luck. You either agree and add your ID, or you lose your digital library since you won’t be able to log in to PSN for the license check as you’ll be locked out.
At the end of the day, physical games are (mostly) the way to go. But with new consoles hinting that this won’t even be an option anymore, the future of game preservation is frightening.
