PS4 Game Expiry Timer Sparks DRM Concerns, Here's What We Know So Far 1

Update #4 []: A credible theory shared by user Andshrew on ResetEra is beginning to circulate potentially making sense of Sony’s alleged DRM issue.

It’s worth noting that while the research seems logical, and has been corroborated by preservation account Does It Play, we’re still waiting on an official statement from the manufacturer. So don’t take any of this as confirmation.

But here’s the theory: it’s a type of temporary DRM designed to combat a potential loophole being exploited by some consumers.

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According to Andshrew’s research, purchasing a digital game issues a temporary 30 day offline license usage.

This license transitions to a permanent license when you connect to the PSN 14 days after making your purchase. From that point onwards, your game will be permanently playable offline.

The idea is that this exceeds Sony’s two week refund window. The manufacturer issues refunds on digital software that’s been purchased but never booted.

It’s therefore speculated that some people have been downloading games, immediately taking their consoles offline, requesting a refund, and then retaining ownership of the software. This new licensing system, it’s argued, is designed to combat that.

It certainly explains a lot, like why some people have seen the 30 day expiry timer suddenly disappear.

But we can’t help but wonder how many people were actually taking advantage of this loophole, and if it’s truly worth all of the hassle to Sony.

Assuming this is the case, then it should be fairly easy to prove over the coming weeks. But what would be more straightforward is if the manufacturer came out and made a comment.

So, to summarise: newly purchased digital games have a 30 day offline license attached. If you connect to the PSN at any point after the 14th day of purchase, the license will become permanent and you’ll be able to play your game offline in perpetuity.

Update #3 []:

We’re deep into Tuesday now and still no comment from Sony on its reported DRM issues.

We now have confirmation that the 30 day expiry timer is affecting software purchased within the past few weeks on both the PS5 and PS4. But we still don’t know if it’s intentional or an error.

However, a slew of statements from customer support have started circulating on social media.

Some of these appear to imply that the 30 day check-in is intentional and was incorporated after the March 2026 update. Others are less conclusive.

As always, we’d recommend approaching statements from customer support like this with a degree of scepticism. While the information does appear clear cut, some of these so-called agents are chat bots; others simply aren’t equipped to field topics like this.

Once again, we’ll push for a statement from the platform holder and will update when we hear back.

Update #2 []:

There had been confusion about whether the PS5 was affected by Sony’s alleged new DRM, which requires you to connect to the Internet every 30 days in order to verify your game licenses.

That’s because, unlike the PS4, there’s no disclaimer in the Game Information which states when your software will expire.

But Spawn Wave has put together a brilliant video, confirming this issue also applies to the PS5.

In it, he tests four games: Saint Slayer (purchased digitally today), Vampire Crawlers (purchased digitally today), Crimson Desert (purchased digitally around a month ago), and Pragmata (purchased physically).

All four games boot normally when the console is connected to the Internet. They also boot just fine when taken offline.

But in order to confuse the console’s time verifier, he removes the CMOS battery from his PS5 Pro. In these conditions, Saint Slayer and Vampire Crawlers no longer load at all. Crimson Desert does boot (despite showing a lock symbol), while Pragmata works as usual.

The error message that displays is as follows: “Can’t use this content. Can’t connect to the server to verify your license. Wait a while, then try again.”

All four games operate as usual when he reconnects to the Internet.

There are multiple concerns here, with the most worrying being that Sony has implemented a new form of DRM. We’ve contacted the company and are still waiting for a response.

At best, this is a bug which will need to be fixed because if it remains like this there’s a very real worry about preservation. In the current scenario, if your CMOS battery were to fail and Sony had taken its servers offline, your purchases would be rendered worthless.

It’s worth reiterating here that there’s no evidence whatsoever of your licenses being revoked if you fail the check-in; this is also only affecting newly purchased games.

However, there’s enough evidence mounting now to demand a comment from the company.

Update #1 []:

It’s early on Monday afternoon as we update this article, but we’re still waiting for comment from Sony on the PS5 and PS4’s alleged DRM issue.

We outlined all of the problems earlier in the weekend, and the story has barely moved since then. We have contacted Sony for comment and we’ve yet to receive word back.

But a new video from Modded Warfare does provide a pretty good summary of the problem.

As noted previously, this issue only appears to affect newly purchased PS4 software for now. There’s still uncertainty around whether PS5 is impacted as well.

As he shows in the video, newly purchased software requires a PSN handshake every 30 days in order to be verified. When he takes the CMOS battery out of his console, those games get locked and are no longer playable.

The timer does restart if you connect your console to the Internet, but this obviously raises huge preservation concerns should Sony ever take its servers offline in the future.

It’s still unclear whether this is an unintended bug or a new form of DRM, and we’re not going to know for certain until the platform holder comments.

We’ll continue to push the company for a statement and will update when we get word back.

Original Story: There’s been huge concern among PS5 and PS4 owners today regarding an alleged form of DRM introduced by Sony which appears to suggest owned software will expire within a period of 30 days.

However, it’s important to caution that the reporting thus far is inconsistent, there’s been no comment from the company itself, and there have even been some suggestions of the issue already being resolved.

Here’s what we know so far:

  • Some newly purchased PS4 games have started to display a validity period of 30 days.
  • Based on our testing, the issue only appears to be affecting PS4 games purchased within the last few weeks.
  • We’ve been unable to replicate the disclaimer on a PS5, although some on social media claim they’ve seen the message there as well.

Some reporting suggests this timer resets if you connect to the Internet after it expires; we’ve been unable to confirm this for ourselves.

Other uncorroborated reporting claims your license will be entirely revoked if you don’t connect your console to the Internet before the expiration date; again, we’ve been unable to confirm this is the case. (Although it sounds like grounds for a lawsuit if true.)

The Issue First Emerged in Late March

Reporting on this started to circulate as far back as late March, although it’s only picked up significant social media attention today.

It’s worth pointing out that a very similar issue occurred with the PS3 and PS Vita back in 2022, which was resolved.

One X (or Twitter) account dedicated to game preservation, Destruction Games, claims that if the CMOS battery in your console dies or is removed, any games showing the validity window will no longer boot.

You may recall there was a big hullabaloo around this in 2021, which Sony actually fixed.

The CMOS battery effectively exists to retain date and time information, which allows the console to authenticate Trophy unlocks. Like any battery, it has a shelf life and will eventually stop working.

But while it’s an easy component to replace, an earlier version of the PS4 firmware required the console to connect to the PSN to verify the date and time upon being replaced.

Many were concerned that in the faraway future, if the PSN should ever be taken offline, this handshake would become impossible, rendering all software unplayable.

Sony actually patched this in v9.00, so it’s interesting to see a new issue rear its ugly head some five years later.

It Could Be a Bug

One thing worth reporting is that some users on Reddit claim the validity period was present on their games up until recently, and has since been removed.

Does It Play, meanwhile – an account dedicated to testing whether software will run offline – claims to have heard from an “anonymous insider” that the issue is “unintentional”.

The account writes: “From what we gathered, Sony accidentally broke something while fixing an exploit. They've known about the confusing UI for a while, but didn't see it as urgent.”

Wait for More Information from Sony

Our view on this is that it’s very likely an error.

While we certainly understand the cynicism and concern around this, the reporting is far too inconsistent for this to be working as intended. As we’ve outlined in this article, some are seeing the error and others aren’t. It also only appears to be occurring with newly purchased software specifically on the PS4.

We’ll be the first to criticise the platform holder if this does turn out to be a new type of DRM, but with no communication from the company and a lot of misinformation flooding social media, we’d urge everyone to stay calm until more details emerge.

In the meantime, we’ll contact Sony for comment and update if and when we hear back.

[source x.com, via x.com, reddit.com, x.com]