Sony PlayStation 4/5: New DRM forces online check every 30 days
Electronics giant Sony has apparently started rolling out a new DRM system for all games purchased digitally via the PlayStation Network (PSN). From now on, the license will probably be compared via the Internet every 30 days.
Sony apparently requires license checks every 30 days
Sony has not yet made an official statement on the matter, but what numerous gaming fans are reporting in forums and platforms such as Reddit indicates drastic new copy protection measures for game titles purchased via PSN. A “license timer” with a duration of 30 days is now used for both titles for the PlayStation 4 and those for the current PS5.
So far, according to reports from Wccftech and IGN There are few publicly verifiable details, but everything seems to indicate that the system requires online validation of the license for each game. If the respective console is not reconnected to the Internet in time before the 30-day period has expired, the respective game can be prevented from starting after the countdown ends.
New DRM system applies to all purchases since March
Apparently only games that customers purchased and installed after March 2026 are affected. Sony hasn’t officially confirmed the whole thing yet, but there is information circulating supposedly from a PlayStation support assistant that the 30-day license counter is by no means some kind of bug. The system therefore applies to all games purchased after an update in March 2026. Even if a console has been designated as the “primary” device of the respective user, the so-called “validity period” applies. Normally, the setting made it possible to use games offline permanently.
Users are criticizing Sony’s approach in various forums and drawing comparisons with the comparable system introduced by Microsoft on the Xbox One in 2013. At the time, Sony had also criticized the Redmond company as excessive as part of its marketing, before Microsoft later abandoned the extremely strict DRM measures. Sony itself has been in the headlines several times since 2021 when it became known that many games were no longer usable if the button cell for the CMOS installed in the company’s game consoles no longer worked, causing the internal clock of the respective device to fail. At that time, Sony responded to the controversy with a quietly rolled out update to resolve the problem.
