Currently, we are not sure whether this is a bug or a new feature that would pause validly purchased digital games for players around the world if they do not connect to the internet for more than 30 days. Sony released a system update in March of this year, and some users have noticed that a timer appeared counting down since they were last online. If those 30 days pass, you technically lose your game license until you reconnect to the server.
As it stands, this applies to games purchased after March 2026, which still does not diminish this anti-consumer policy. This irresistibly reminds us of 2013 when Microsoft, with the announcement of the Xbox One, tried to introduce a similar thing. They wanted the console to perform an online check every 24 hours, which caused such outrage among gamers that they ultimately abandoned the entire idea and changed the policy before the console even launched.
Sony then emerged as the "savior" of gamers as they mocked Microsoft for this, and today, when they are convincingly leading in this generation, it seems they are testing the waters and doing something similar, just with a slightly longer timeframe of one month. It remains to be seen whether this will be recorded as a bug that has not yet been fixed or if Sony is slowly preparing the ground for some future updates that further restrict our ownership of games.
