PlayStation Reportedly Adds 30 Day DRM Check to All Newly Purchased Digital PS5 and PS4 Games - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 28 April 2026 / 10,618 Views
Sony Interactive Entertainment has reportedly added a DRM check that requires a PlayStation 5 or PlayStation 4 to be connected to the internet within 30 days for newly purchased digital PS5 and PS4 games.
If the console remains offline longer than 30 days the games will no longer be playable until it is reconnected to the internet. This applies to any game purchased after March's system update.
"Thank you for your interest on the 30-Day Timer that is being applied to all new purchases," said PlayStation Support in a response to a user asking about the DRM.
"Affected Content: Games purchased digitally after the March 2026 update. Offline Functionality: If the console does not connect to the internet within 30 days, the license expires and the game may refuse to launch until a connection is restored. Primary Console Restriction: Setting a console as "Primary" does not bypass this 30-day requirement.
"The 30-day is a Valid Period and is not a sign of an account restriction or anything like that."
The 30 day timer can only be seen on PS4, despite it affecting PS5 and PS4 games. Users who check the information on a purchase game on PS4 will see a Valid Period (Start), Valid Period (End), and Remaining Time information for a game that was purchased after the March system update. However, some testing suggests this only affects games purchased in mid-April or later.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can follow the author on Bluesky.
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And just like that...
Every $$$ I would have spent on my PS5 will now go to my NS2 and PC
same here if theres an option i will always purchase the switch version
Nintendo does plenty of checks.
Lots of PC games too.
I don't, I just wanted to point out that it's actually worse on consoles due to the closed platform. I'm not at all OK with it on PC - games that have any impactful form of DRM are worth a lot less to me, to an extent where I buy them only very rarely. I've spoken against DRM for a very long time and been with GOG since the beginning - I'm actually wary about even Steam.
Some PC games do have DRM... the difference is you can mod it out and turn off auto-updates
Sony is a hard and fast rule governing ALL digital games
Steam games are on a game by game basis and has nothing to do with Steam
GOG and zero games with DRM or any checks after you download it
What check is Nintendo doing on your primary console outside of NSO content or shared digital games...?
My NS1 has literally been in airplane mode since the NS2 launch and I haven't had any issues other than the NSO emulators that aren't owned.
Switch 2 has game keycards. Steam is infested with Denuvo, which is the same 30 day check.
Yes, key cards are trash... tho you still don't have any verification checks after the initial install.
And if you buy the same game digitally, there's no checks at all.
But it does have the same issue all digital games have when the servers shut down
Does Xbox already do these DRM checks or are new purchases safe there?
There needs to be backslash and they roll this shit back away.
Pathetic.
30 days aren't that far away from Microsofts "always on" disaster with Xbox One.
It's really a LOT different, but that doesn't change the fact its stupid and needs to be pushed back.
Naw, not about the timing
Its about the control
series x for gta6 for sure now.
This is why you buy your games physical folks! Go to doesitplay.org and find the 69% of PS5 games that don't require an update to play correctly. Then only buy those specific games. Problem solved.
And the point of doing that is...?
Well well well..
Biggest BS ever seen...
Xbox has the chance to do the funniest thing.
Turned out the satanic shitbox fanbitch slave blew this way out of proportion!
Typical cunts....
What would this mean in practical terms? That if I go on a month long vacation, I would have to buy my games for a second time?
Disgusting. To think that they mocked Xbox for similar practices last generation just to do this shit.
I wasn't exactly likely to get any, or at least many, games digitally on PlayStation anymore, but this just makes it even less likely. This kills whatever advantage digital distribution on PlayStation might have had in comparison to PC (not that I was thinking there was any, but it's always possible to sink even lower).
This cant be real? Wouldn't we have heard of people claiming about losing licences ect if it was real?
This is apparently only for new purchases
Anything from March 2026 or earlier is unaffected
Which also means no one would be affected until May anyway.
How is an AI Chat bot being used for news???
Why should it inform me of a change they never announced?
Also, it doesn't exist to show it to people on PS5, only on PS4.
Either they announce it and we can choose to stop buying games there, or they announce it was a mistake and everyone forgets it once they fix it.
It's not looking like a mistake to me at all tho, Sony silence so far is pretty much horrible too. If it's just a mistake they sitting on it is so stupid it hurts.
There's no mistake here. They're implementing an anti-exploit update that changes nothing for anyone except those exploiting the original license file. You naturally always have a license file for a digital purchase. The only difference here is that they've implemented the time information that is usually reserved for PS + titles, hence why it is suddenly appearing.
The only reason you aren't seeing Sony talking about this is because they obviously don't want to highlight that an exploit currently exists: this is very similar to silent patches where exploits are fixed but never actually detailed to the public.
My understanding is that you need to wait 14 years to have the actual "forever" license, which was never announced before or during the purchase step, so yes, they need to have an official statement about it, and if this is their fix from now on, display it in every purchase in the store.
If someone buys the game and gets their PS4/PS5 on vacation to a place without internet before those 14 days, or have an internet outage, they will not be able to play the game they just bought.
Sony literally have to make a statement about it, or they may face legal action. There is no place for hidden systems when it involve monetary transactions.
This is literally the first media outlet that I have seen reporting on this., even though I have been seeing it in forums in the past two days.
There is currently an initiative in the EU called “Stop Killing Games,” which has been very well received by EU politicians, and it is highly likely that an EU-wide law will be enacted prohibiting the deactivation of games after they have been purchased. This would therefore also be illegal in the EU, as Sony could deactivate purchased games at any time.
And just like that, my physcal purchase preference is vindicated. Still feel bad for all the digital only library types. Heard about this at work and thought it was a bad joke
Question: How would the DRM check work? Is it checking to make sure you’re playing on the same system as you originally purchased? Or is it checking location? Or something else entirely? I’m just trying to understand if there is legitimate reason to be upset by this.
The latest understanding is that a timed license is being used to stop someone with a hacked ps4 getting an indefinite license during the refund period and refunding the game. But that the license converts to indefinite after the refund period.
Just looked into it, and yeah, that seems to be spot on. Only checks one time ever, and it’s 15/30 days post-purchase. Sounds to me like Sony is trying to patch a refund window extension exploit… very much a nothing-burger that should legitimately hurt nobody other than people looking to cheat the system.
Unfortunately assholes ruin nice things.
For the short term not a big deal because if you downloaded it youll almost definitely be online the first time you boot it up. Concern is that sometime down the line, you wont be able to access their system. They could of course fix it by then but who knows what the future holds.
Just depends how Sony plans to implement the system long term. Not sure why people jump to the worst conclusion instead of remaining neutral and wait.
Because they have to pay now.
You can simply hold off some purchasing until new info drops. Again, no point in fearmongering.
They would have to wait years to see how drm will be handled in the future.
