- cross-posted to:
- games@sh.itjust.works
- cross-posted to:
- games@sh.itjust.works
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.
Source [2026-04-25; +image]
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You wouldn’t “lose” it, the licence would be restored after connecting to internet… provided Sony’s servers are still functioning when you do…
Source [2026-04-25]
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…Trophies on PS4 require the internal system clock (the one you can’t see / alter) to be correct, so people cant change their PS4 date/time to make it look like they got trophies earlier than they really did. If your PS4 clock battery dies, all your games die
Source [2021-03-23]
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Newly purchased PS4 games now have 30 day valid license timer.
Most likely introduced in March 2026 firmware.
Could be a bug similar to an incident from 2022.
PS5 is affected too, but only shows an error when starting a game.Source [2026-04-25]
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Update x2: not a bug - PlayStation just quietly confirmed it’s intentional.
Any digital game you buy after the march 2026 update now requires you to go online at least once every 30 days or it won’t even launch.Source [2026-04-28]
[Image] Official PlayStation Support Response [2026-04-28]
Source: https://xcancel.com/SmashJT/status/2048887546323808258#m
[Image] "Don't Starve Together" (PlayStation)
Welp, looks like it’s time to check out some of those PS4 hacks, eh? Ahoy, ahoy.
Find ps4s that weren’t updated to the latest because as i understood it, they’ve essentially bricked its modding capabilities with a patch.
Like, something beyond the usual “the currently available exploits were fixed in the latest release”? Or just that? Because the currently available exploits being fixed in the latest patch is pretty normal. Sucks, but that seems to be the arrangement they’ve worked out instead of Sony suing the exploit finders for letting people use their consoles the way they like. (Yeah, shit’s fucked.)
– Frost
And that is why turning off automatic updates is sometimes necessary, and a must for games, consoles and mobiles. Because the anti consumer practices by corporate shitlords are far worse than a low chance of being hacked through a “security flaw”.
My PS4’s been collecting dust for a while, so I’m sure its firmware is out of date. Time to see what the homebrew scene is all about!
Edit: we can run Linux now? Oh this is gonna be fun