PlayStation 30 Day DRM Debate Continues – Sony Still Has No Statement – WGB
I’ve been putting this story off because it looked like a simple bug at first, which has come up a few times in the past and gets fixed every time. But as the story progresses, that may no longer be the case. So, what the hell is going on with the PlayStation 30 day license issue? And why hasn’t Sony clarified yet?
Before we examine how this sordid legend began, let’s discuss what is happening now. The situation is that some newly purchased PS4 and PS5 digital games seem to require an online license check about once every 30 days, and if you stay offline beyond that window the game may stop launching until the console reconnects to PSN; older purchases do not appear to be affected. Sony still has not made a clear statement publicly, but support chats and automated responses are reported to have told users that the 30-day verification is done on purpose, which means that the practical impact is mainly found for people who play offline, travel, or have unreliable internet.
Remember, support chats may not even be a reliable source of information as they are often chatbots. Indeed, at the top of the chat in the picture, it clearly says “chat assistant” and those things can be….very unreliable.
That’s why I also wanted to include this user X conversation with a real human support agent that says: “Currently, there is no need for players to re-authorize their digital purchases every 30 days.”
Until we hear anything official from Sony, no one is entirely sure what’s going on or why.
The Whole Story.
Let’s start at the beginning, shall we? In late March, rumors began circulating that a PlayStation software update had added “expired time” fields to newly purchased PS4 titles, as well as a 30-day countdown – meaning that after that time the game would not work unless you could reconnect to the internet to confirm. It looks like some kind of 30-day license, but Sony hasn’t announced anything yet.
The issue came to the fore in early April when YouTuber Lance McDonald posted about it on X.
From there, the debate began. At the same time, people are saying that Sony used a new DRM system similar to what the Xbox One would have before the backlash forced Microsoft to abandon it. Some people have pointed out that similar things have appeared before on Sony devices and it was usually errors, bits of license tied to other things etc.
Some brave people have started trying to trick the system into thinking that 30 days have passed by removing the CMOS battery and taking the console offline after buying new games. SpawnWave made a great video about this, first shooting new games (Saint Slayer: Spear of Sacrilege, Pragmata, Vampire Crawlers and Crimson Desert) while online, then going offline and removing the CMOS battery. This changed the console clock from 2011.
Saint Slayer and Vampire Survivors refused to play, instead showing this error message: “Unable to use this content. Unable to connect to the server to verify your license. Please wait, then try again.”
Crimson Desert displayed a lock symbol next to its name, but otherwise functioned normally. Pragmata seemed completely unaffected. However, it doesn’t help that Pragmata was a physical game, which changes things a bit.
SpawnWave also tried manually adjusting the clock to match the current date and time, but this had no effect on the results.
It’s good to remember that these tests are not definitive. Removing a CMOS battery can cause problems with any system, although Sony has updated their devices over the years so that if the battery is removed or dies, games will still run.
Shortly after this, people started contacting Sony’s PlayStation customer support page and asking what was going on. As you can see from the tweet at the beginning of the article, the customer service response seems to confirm that this new licensing scheme is real.
Confusingly, preservation-focused website DoItPlay had this to say: “Word received from an anonymous insider. The Sony DRM issue is not intentional. From what we gathered, Sony accidentally broke something while fixing the exploit. They knew about the confusing UI for a while, but didn’t see it as urgent. I’m hoping for a clarifying statement now.”
This brings us to today. We haven’t heard anything from Sony confirming or denying the evidence, leaving users upset.
Logically speaking, even if this is true most users won’t even know it as they are connected almost all the time. It will never be a problem for them. But that’s also beside the point: any new form of DRM is a big move and shouldn’t be taken lightly. And it creates problems for the preservation of the future, or certain types of people. For example, many military personnel who board ships will take their PlayStation with them to play offline. If the PlayStation is not connected to the Internet, you will be unable to access those games again. It’s hard to imagine that situation actually happening and the program being removed before being shut down, but it’s still possible.
On the other hand, all this dirt may be for nothing. A complete dud, just like what happened with the original PS4 when it was discovered that a CMOS battery failure would render games unplayable. Sony has fixed this issue.
One thing is very clear, however: Sony should deal with this legally, because it’s a PR blow they don’t need.
