Rita Deutschbein Managing Editor

April 27, 2026, 2:35 pm | Read time: 2 minutes

After the system update in March 2026, several PlayStation users, including Lance McDonald on X (via Play3), reported noticeable changes in digitally purchased games. Their rights must now be regularly “verified,” which requires an internet connection.

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Once verified, games for the PS4 display an expiration date in the overview, by which the title’s rights must be confirmed again. Typically, the approval seems to be granted for 30 days at a time. Games installed before the update appear unaffected by the change, according to reports. Whether this changes after a reinstallation is still unclear.

Users have observed similar restrictions on the PlayStation 5. However, no specific expiration date is displayed there. Instead, an affected title cannot be started after the period expires and reports an error. Even setting the console as the primary device does not prevent this behavior.

The issue does not affect all users, which further complicates the situation. On the contrary, some have specifically looked for the new restriction but cannot detect any change in their game list.

Insiders Call It an Unintentional Error

This strengthens the suspicion that the change is not a generally tightened copy protection by Sony but rather a mistake. According to the X account “Does it Play,” and citing an anonymous insider, a security update may have inadvertently affected the functionality of the digital PlayStation games’ license verification. The background is said to be the fixing of a critical security vulnerability discovered in early 2026.

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Thus, a mechanism usually used for subscription content might mistakenly be applied to regularly purchased games.

Also interesting: Why PlayStation Fans Are Now Seeing Different Prices

Discussion on Digital Ownership Reignites

Sony has not yet commented on the issue, so we can only speculate about possible causes. Regardless of the cause, the incident highlights how dependent buyers of digitally purchased games and files are. Without a regular connection to the servers, access to already purchased content could be restricted. This would be particularly problematic for users in regions with unreliable internet connections.