Imagine it’s 2013 again. The Xbox One has just been announced. The words “Digital Rights Management (DRM)” and “always online” are fresh in our minds…
I remember that day well. I remember the walking PR disaster that was Don Mattrick, too. The gleam in his eye as he talked about DRM and telling people to buy a 360, if they couldn’t get online. I remember the smugness and complacency, and the backlash, too.
Ultimately, Microsoft eventually backed down and reversed these policies. I mean, who in their right mind thought mandatory 24hr online check-ins, not being able to trade discs, and the console effectively being a brick without an internet connection were a good idea?
Sony didn’t, and “BOY” *kratos voice* did they relish in the fallout – The more Microsoft dug their own grave, the easier it was for PlayStation to do the opposite, and garner more favour with players the world over – the “Official PlayStation Used Game Instructional Video” is a near iconic part of that console generation’s launch. And it is still funny now.
Sony was at the height of their game, riding off of every failure from Microsoft with the Xbox One. So why 13 years later, in 2026, are we now having a similar conversation with Sony regarding DRM?
It’s not the first time this conversation has been had.
News of “30-day” license limits to digital titles across both PS4 and PS5 has been spreading across the internet like wildfire. Admittedly, when I first read this, I had to take it with a pinch of salt, as with anything on social media, you can’t always believe everything you first see on social media. Plus, it’s not the first time something like this has popped up from Sony, only to be later played off as “an unexpected issue from a system patch” and eventually corrected.
Surely Sony remembers the fallout Microsoft went through, right? Surely Sony wouldn’t live long enough to become the villain in this debate as well, right?
Well, sadly, yes, it seems so.
There’s not been so much as a “PS5 start-up noise” sized peep from Sony regarding this. In fact, PlayStation’s very own Online Assistant has confirmed the 30-day license expiration in lieu of this.
I’m failing to see any logical rhyme or reason for this.. Sony’s silence for so long speaks volumes in itself. Especially for a company so focused on taking advantage of this beforehand. It treads a dangerous line between what counts as “game ownership” in an increasingly digital age. Then there’s the old adage of “what happens when the PS Store servers are shut down in XX number of years?” What happens to the games you purchased then?
The argument could be made that yes, we live in a world that is more interconnected than it was in 2013, but that doesn’t necessarily mean we should always be online or that media we purchase should have an expiration date. At that point, we might as well whack a yellow sticker on our consoles and make it grow mould after 2 years.
Increasingly, it feels like now we’re paying for the privilege of renting a game, instead of outright owning one. Blockbuster died so DRM could live. Even then, discs aren’t always guaranteed to have the entire game on them, either – not to mention Nintendo and their poxy “game-key” cards. A physical cartridge that instead of having game data on it, instead acts as a key for the game digitally. What happens in 15 years, you just lick the clitercartous for fun?
Even Gabe’s trusty Steam isn’t free from this nonsense; some Steam games are tied down by DRM ironically, upcoming Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag Resynced, has anti-piracy DRM. There’s no escaping it.
The games industry seriously needs to start considering how they handle palliative care for their titles, instead of just a “oops that’s it, soz” approach. Especially with the whole “StopKillingGames” movement being deliberated within the European Parliament recently, after attracting over 1 million signees.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand why DRM exists, but the increasingly anti-consumer implication of it is the sore point. Why should people have to go through the hassle of “checking in” every other day, just so they can play a game offline? Internet connections are widespread, yes, but not always guaranteed. The whole thing just makes no sense.
In Sony’s case, it stinks. It reeks of a company losing its way with its audience once again; reminiscent of the arrogance they held around the PS3’s launch. It’s one thing that there’s been radio silence from their devs on upcoming titles, and the fact that there’s barely any first-party titles, too. Plus, this insane infatuation with spending millions on the next “big” live service title… just for it to be so dead on arrival, you need a Ouija board to play it. Why don’t we worry about that first, instead of little Timmy coming home from school and playing his one exclusive PS5 game offline, for the 29th day, right?
Update: Sony have finally released a PS5 start up sized peep, regarding the recent DRM controversy. In a statement provided to Gamespot, a spokesperson has clarified the following – “Players can continue to access and play their purchased games as usual. A one-time online check is required to confirm the game’s license, after which no further check-ins are required.”
There we have it. Official word finally. A simple, straight-forward statement. But it begs the question, surely this could’ve been provided via official Sony accounts much sooner, and helped avoid the fallout we’ve seen the last few days?
Maybe the PR department were having online check-in problems of their own, before they could post anything.