cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/46052675
Hugely terrible DRM has now been rolled out to all PS4 and PS5 digital games. Every digital game you buy now requires an online check-in every 30 days. If you buy a digital game and don’t connect your console to the internet for 30 days, your license will be removed.
Source [2026-04-25; +image]
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You wouldn’t “lose” it, the licence would be restored after connecting to internet… provided Sony’s servers are still functioning when you do…
Source [2026-04-25]
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…Trophies on PS4 require the internal system clock (the one you can’t see / alter) to be correct, so people cant change their PS4 date/time to make it look like they got trophies earlier than they really did. If your PS4 clock battery dies, all your games die
Source [2021-03-23]
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Newly purchased PS4 games now have 30 day valid license timer.
Most likely introduced in March 2026 firmware.
Could be a bug similar to an incident from 2022.
PS5 is affected too, but only shows an error when starting a game.Source [2026-04-25]
[Image] "Don't Starve Together" (PlayStation)
Is the license lost forever if you don’t do the check ins?
My guess would be no. I think this is effectively a “log in to play this game again” check that will happen if you are disconnected from the service for a month, basically.
Honestly, I would prefer they adopt a game-key-card approach if this is really the direction they’re going to take. At least a physical key would make more sense than a digital key that needs constant online connection for validity.
That’s what a disc does on modern consoles.
Granted, sure, but they don’t even need the data (or a disc, for that matter) and that would still beat forcing a login every 30 days (at least IMO)
The claims in this post say it effects games moving forward, no games bought previously. And that the game isn’t uninstalled or anything of the sort, it means if you haven’t connected to the Internet in 30 days you would have to connect to open the game. (Not sure what the reasoning would be, maybe they are trying to ensure people do updates, not sure). Someone else claimed above that it is fake all together, but I haven’t verified it.
The real issue here for most people to me would be if a game is eventually removed from their network and whether or not they remove the check in requirement if the digital game is removed. (Aka would the game be lost forever because Sony stopped hosting it, even if you had a copy on an external drive).
no just until you connect to the internet again