And some sale bundles can't be found by searching for them. You have to go through an external link to the store to get the bundle. The Lovecraftian Bundle is a current example.

Even worse update - DRM changes : Now all digital purchases going forward require and online check-in every 30 days or your license expires!

It sounds like that was an update glitch and is going to be fixed. That already exists for PS+ games. It does a check to make sure that you're still subscribed. The latest update broke that and applied it to all games. It should be fixed eventually.

I wouldn't put anything past Sony at this point.
Maybe a dumb question, but if your console is offline, can it even see that your license was removed anyway? Or if it just goes off of the date, I wonder if changing the date on your console would get around that as a life hack of sorts.

Any official word on that front?

Here's the reddit thread on it: https://www.reddit.com/r/PS5/comment...unintentional/

It sounds like you can play the game for 30 days without an internet connection, but you have to reconnect to the internet to renew the license. It sounds like they're working to fix it, but it's not high priority.

yeah it goes off of the date or some other kind of internal counter to hit 30 days. That’s how Spotify and other apps work with their own offline modes.

Your license will be removed but your game will still be there and you can reauthenticate by going online, right? That seems aligned with how other services work, I kind of doubt it's a mistake.

Now if you don't login for 30 days and it removes the license permanently from your account or something, that's screwed up.

That is correct. You would need to go online to renew license. Again, I'd have no problem if it's that way for PS Plus games. But for games you own it's weird and unnecessary. I agree with you that it doesn't sound like an accident. If it were, there would be an apology out from Sony by now.

Finally game sites are noticing.

https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2026...ilent-on-issue

It seems like this is legit.
Get that Project Helix out Microsoft, because Sony's dumb ass just opened the door for you to take back control of the console market by making the same dumb fucking mistake you did prior to the Xbox One launch.

Note that the uproar about the Xbox one was that it would require PHYSICAL games to check in, like every 24 hours or something. So even if you had physical discs you could not do anything unless you were connected to the internet. The Sony one is still crappy but at least it's digital games (that you had to download somehow) and I'd think it's much rarer particularly now for someone to have bought a completely digital console and have no internet for months at a time.

Unless the Sony thing also includes physical games, in which case what is the point, the disc is basically your license check and nothing else once the game is loaded on the HDD.

I haven’t really followed this mess. So does this really screw or inconvenience people who are digital only?

My understanding is only if you can't connect to the internet every 30 days or so? Or I guess if you haven't played a game in a long time and then want to play it while your internet is out? At least that's how the Switch works.

That's my take too. Though it will apply to anyone who didn't accept the terms of the new system update as well.

If you paid for a digital game, not received it through Plus, then there should never be an internet requirement to play it. The transaction was complete and you purchased a license for that game regardless of whether or not you are on the net. This seems like a dubious effort to take games away from people that shelled out money for them. If I don't see you car on the streets at least once a month, I'm coming in your garage to kill the motor.

I would imagine (if this is intentional) it's to prevent some loophole that allows people to set a console as primary (which allows other users on that console to play someone's digital games), take it off the internet, then set another console as primary, or something along those lines. Otherwise as you say why would they care? All of these cumbersome license checks are (usually) to prevent people from buying the game once and sharing them a bunch of times.

So now the speculation is that this is only an issue until you get past the 14-day refund window (who knew it was actually possible to get a refund from Sony anyway) and then your license converts to infinite. Time will tell.

Sony being silent on the issue isn't helping anything. That's for sure.

I think there are already people who have games past the 30 day limit who have tested and confirmed this, but I guess we'll see. Yeah Sony's messaging on this is weird, you'd think they'd rush out to clear this up considering how much gnashing of teeth there's been.

May PS Plus Games announced

X - Formerly Twitter

Is Wuchang that game that was nominated for Game of the Year at the VG Awards a couple of years ago?

No, that was Black Myth Wukong.

Ah, thanks.