PlayStation DRM Now Requires One-Time Online Check, as Sony Clarifies Situation
The video game community has been chattering about Sony’s new DRM (Digital Rights Management) initiative on PlayStation games ever since it was spotted this weekend, with some stating that gamers will now be required to have the game online every 30 days or risk losing access.
We’ve contacted Sony and haven’t heard anything back, but for the first time since this mess started, the company has issued a statement, and it’s a bit worrying.
PlayStation DRM Confirmed, as Players Now Required a Check-In
In a statement sent to GameSpot, a Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) spokesperson relayed the message, “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.”
This means that even if you don’t want to, you’re now required to check-in your game at least once. While it’s highly unlikely that someone who games these days doesn’t have their gaming device connected to the internet, it’s more of the principle of the thing, right? And what’s next if gamers don’t push back? A check-in every six months? Every 30 days? Sony has been known to be rather unpleasant when they know they’re the market leader (remember the PS3 days?), and that’s what’s happening now with the PS5 dominating the Xbox Series X|S handily.
Let’s hope this isn’t the start of something far worse, and hopefully, people will not choose blind fanboyism to keep Sony in check.
Speaking of PlayStation games, Sony has the Big Games, Big Deals promotion ongoing on the PSN Store, and we have the full list of discounts.
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For reference, this is to help stop pirates. On PS4 and now PS5 it was easy enough to jailbreak your console and install pkgs for any game. What Sony is trying to do is make sure the game is authenticated once installed. Basically if you are downloading a digital game, you have internet anyways and will never notice this one time check. But if you pirate a game, it will no longer work because the moment you try to authenticate the license you need to go online and the PSN server will ban you.
From the messy and confusing reporting on this situation, it seems like purely physical games don’t have this counter, only digital.
So, if you’re buying it digitally, you are connected right then and there. Just install it and you’re good.
It also seems that this is maybe in response to people buying digital, not downloading it, asking for a refund, and then playing offline. If that’s the case, we can all thank those (likely few) jerks for causing this.
You’ve reporting this incorrectly, the one time check in was always there, it was just done purchase, now however it happens after two weeks, as that is when the purchase is no longer eligible for a refund.