New PlayStation DRM Has Customers Worried If They Own Their Purchased Games

PlayStation users have reported a new DRM change that could affect how digital purchases are verified. According to reports, games bought through the PlayStation Store after the March 2026 update for PS4 and PS5 are being subjected to a 30-day timer. This would essentially give you a one-month window to go online again, allowing the PlayStation Store servers to redo the verification, or else you would risk losing the license to play the game until you reconnected the console to the internet.

Another important detail is that changing your PS5 settings to set the console as the primary on your account reportedly does not remove the new requirement. Evidently, this new policy doesn’t only affect games with online features, since even single-player titles reportedly need to go through this verification process in order to remain playable on the console. In other words, to preserve access to your own games, you would need to do this online verification process every once in a while.

Sony’s full online verification policy details remain unclear, but judging by user reports, it appears that only games purchased after the March 2026 firmware update are being flagged for verification. Affected games essentially receive a 30-day timer. The countdown can be seen on each title’s listing on the PlayStation Store, and after that period ends, it appears that you must go online to allow the console to verify the purchase again. If you stay offline, the game reportedly refuses to run and shows an error message.

However, since this new policy evidently only affects games purchased after the DRM implementation in March 2026, two copies of the same title can behave differently, depending on when you bought them. For example, a game acquired last year might work fine if you use your PS5 without internet, while a copy purchased in April 2026 would need to be checked every month.

At the same time, a new theory suggests the 30-day timer may not be permanent. A user on ResetEra with a jailbroken PS4 found that the timer may disappear after roughly 14 to 16 days, with the system converting the license into a permanent one. This suggests that Sony may have introduced the timer to prevent piracy during the PlayStation Store’s refund window, rather than as a long-term policy.

Sony is not the first company to try implementing something like this with its games. Back in 2013, Microsoft considered adding a similar always-online DRM system to the Xbox One, even in physical media, but backed down after major pressure. At the time, Sony used the backlash against Microsoft as a marketing opportunity for the PlayStation 4, joking about the policy in its own promotional material.

Steam, one of the main digital stores for PC games, also has some DRM policies that apply to its games. For example, during the checkout process for buying a new game, a notice says you are not acquiring the title itself, but a license to use it. The Valve-owned platform may require periodic re-authentication to enable offline mode, and if you avoid connecting for too long, you may lose access until you reconnect — especially with games that use any kind of DRM.

In the end, the online verification process PlayStation users are reporting highlights a sticking point many customers have with digital-only games. When players buy a digital game, they don’t always acquire the product they’re paying for — rather, only a license to use it. This means that, if the PlayStation Network shuts down in the future and all the licenses become inaccessible, these purchases might effectively evaporate.