A PlayStation DRM issue has popped up for some players, making them worried about the status of their digital purchases.
According to some players on social media, they’ve noticed a timer in their digital games that requires them to check in with an active internet connection every 30 days to keep the license active. According to a video from Modded Warfare, the issue occurs if you’re running the latest 13.5 firmware for the console
The story really gained traction following a tweet from @ManFightDragon, reading, “Hugely terrible DRM has now been rolled out to all PS4 and PS5 digital games. Every digital game you buy now requires an online check-in every 30 days. If you buy a digital game and don’t connect your console to the internet for 30 days, your license will be removed.”
The PS5 DRM Issue May Be an Unintentional Bug
According to @DoesItPlay1, the DRM issue is unintentional. They claim to have received word from an anonymous Insider that “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.”
For what it’s worth, I checked on my own Sony PlayStation 5 to see if this issue is there. My system features the most up-to-date firmware. The timer was not present for any game that I checked, all of which were purchased since March.
The games I checked included ARC Raiders, Absolum, WWE 2K26, and Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered. The latter was added to the PlayStation Plus library while writing this article.
Insider Gaming will continue to monitor this story and report any updates. For more PlayStation news, check out the games that are set to leave PlayStation Plus in the month of May 2026.
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