Sony DRM 30‑day online check claim

Sony has not publicly announced a new rule requiring all PS4 and PS5 owners to reconnect every 30 days to keep digital purchases working. Reports this weekend point instead to a timer appearing on some recently bought games. (pushsquare.com) (insider-gaming.com) The viral claim came from developer and modder Lance McDonald, who posted on April 25 that every new digital purchase now needs an online check-in every 30 days or “your license will be removed.” Push Square and Insider Gaming both traced the surge in attention to that post. (pushsquare.com) (insider-gaming.com) What has been independently reported is narrower than that. Push Square said some newly purchased PS4 games displayed a 30-day validity period, and said its own testing suggested the issue appeared to affect PS4 purchases from the last few weeks. (pushsquare.com) The same Push Square report said it could not reproduce the warning on a PS5, even though some social media users said they saw similar behavior there. Insider Gaming also said it checked a PS5 on current firmware and did not see the timer on several games bought since March. (pushsquare.com) (insider-gaming.com) Sony’s own support pages still describe offline access in the older terms. PlayStation says anyone using a PS5 with “Console Sharing and Offline Play” enabled can play purchased games and media even when the console is offline. (playstation.com) PlayStation gives similar guidance for shared access and troubleshooting on PS4. Its support pages say one PS4 can be activated as a primary console, and say restoring licenses can help when a purchased game shows a padlock icon. (playstation.com 1) (playstation.com 2) That is why the current story is about a reported bug or limited license issue, not a confirmed platform-wide policy change. Insider Gaming cited the preservation account DoesItPlay, which said an anonymous source described the behavior as something Sony “accidentally broke” while fixing an exploit. (insider-gaming.com) Push Square also said reporting has been inconsistent, Sony had not commented as of April 26, 2026, and some users suggested the issue may already have been resolved. That leaves the broadest version of the viral claim unconfirmed. (pushsquare.com) The unresolved part is simple: some players reported a 30-day timer, Sony has not explained it, and PlayStation’s public support language still says enabled consoles can play purchased games offline. (pushsquare.com) (playstation.com)