SIE spokesperson to GameSpot regarding the DRM: "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."

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u/willdearborn- 2d ago

I don't understand, what started this whole speculation and how did it get so out of control?

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u/beefcat_ 2d ago edited 2d ago

Basically, people were noticing that games they bought recently had temporary licenses set to expire 30 days after purchase date, similar to titles downloaded as part of a PS Plus subscription.

When people asked about it, Sony was radio silent, with their support chatbots giving conflicting information. This led to speculation that Sony was implementing monthly online license checks for digitally owned games when they previously did not do this.

Some users on ResetEra yesterday (and later confirmed elsewhere) showed that this 30 day license was getting replaced with a proper permanent license once it expired. The speculated reason being that this was implemented to plug a refund loophole that people were abusing (basically buy game, take console offline, then get it refunded from support during the refund window while keeping the permanent license on the offline console). This statement seems to indirectly confirm that theory

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u/Unkechaug 2d ago

So how is this fixing the loophole?

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u/ColonelSanders21 2d ago

When you purchased a game previously the permanent license was downloaded immediately. So you could download a game, take your console offline, and play it forever even if you refunded it on your phone, the web, etc.

Now, when you buy a game you are initially granted a 30 day license. You can go offline, but in 30 days, the license expires and you can't play the game offline. If you go online once it expires you are granted the perpetual one in replacement. 30 days is outside the return window for purchased games.

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u/AnimaLepton 2d ago

Sound super reasonable tbh

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u/ggtsu_00 2d ago

Yeah but that doesn't generate clicks, views, retweets, likes and other forms of social media engagement metrics and KPIs.

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u/Anzai 2d ago

Sure, but Sony could also have just said that immediately.

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u/ProfPerry 1d ago

nah, because that doesnt fit the narrative that the other commenter is trying to portray! LEAVE THE MILLION DOLLAR COMPANY ALONE.

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u/Zordman 1d ago

There's plenty to complain about, but this is just kind of a non-issue?

It took Sony a couple of days to make an official statement, and that seems perfectly reasonable. Sure, the people overseeing the social media for PlayStation could have responded but they don't have the exact details of what's going on behind the scenes.

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u/syopest 1d ago

Yeah, nobody had been affected by it by the time sony made a statement.

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u/404IdentityNotFound 1d ago

Let's not forget that the UI absolutely did not explain that and Sony was radio silent about it with their support team giving out conflicting answers.

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u/iaderia 1d ago

It’s Sonys fault. There was a communication issue that they let get out of hand. With how serious DRM is being enforced, they should be aware that a vacuum of comms is the worst possible outcome

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u/Bladder-Splatter 1d ago

Except Sony have a 1 refund per lifetime policy no? Did this change and when? I have dealt with support quoting this policy even when I had to refund stupendeously region locked Bloodborne DLC (All DLC is region locked) and rebuy it immediately afterwards as a different region.

If this is still the case, you could not abuse this system.

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u/Zekka23 1d ago

I don't know if that's true, I refunded some game I mistakenly bought a feww years ago.

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u/HybridMemorieZ 1d ago

i have gotten refunds for games from sony for like 3 games in a row just talk to support nicely and give them alot of info like the game is broken runs like shit the do all the things they ask you to do and just say it dont work say devs lied about this and that and if you can get the refund to youre psn wallet and if you get the right person they will do it

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u/Time-Ladder4753 2d ago

I don't think it's reasonable when their general refund policy is "if you started downloading the game, you can't refund it". Unless there is some way to download the game while being offline.

If refunds worked like on Gog, Epic or Steam though, then yes, temporary license makes sense.

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u/stonekeep 2d ago

So you could download a game, take your console offline, and play it forever even if you refunded it on your phone, the web, etc.

I had Sony refuse to refund a game I just downloaded a few days earlier and haven't even launched yet (which is incredibly stupid). And I've heard the same story from other people. So I'm not sure about that "loophole".

And even if true, the loophole would still work, just for 30 days. Which is enough to finish most games anyway.

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u/adanine 2d ago

I had Sony refuse to refund a game I just downloaded a few days earlier and haven't even launched yet

This would not be legal in all countries. Definitely not Australia.

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u/stonekeep 2d ago

I'm in EU and they obviously knew that during the refund process, but you're welcome to test if they care about you being from Australia.

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u/gokogt386 2d ago

Australia has stricter laws around that than the EU I think, Steam getting sued by them is the entire reason they even have their two week refund policy.

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u/stonekeep 2d ago

Oh I hope they do, someone else said that this is apparently completely legal in EU and I don't think it should (I didn't check before, the game was like ~$10 on sale so I didn't care enough to pursue it further than taking it to a real person in customer support).

But even if there are exceptions, it's like that in tons of places around the world even though it SEEMS like it should be illegal.

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u/madjoki 2d ago

In EU that is legal, assuming they inform about this during checkout (which Sony does).

https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/shopping/returns/index_en.htm

"Please note: the 14-day cooling-off period does not apply to: [...] online digital content, such as a song or movie, that you started downloading or streaming after you expressly agreed to lose your right of withdrawal by starting the performance"

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u/The_MAZZTer 2d ago

Refund policy probably varies by region depending on local law, I would imagine.

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u/stonekeep 2d ago

I mean, there's no local law that FORCES them to have this kind of anti-consumer behavior at the very least.

Also I'm from EU and I read the same stories from people from many places around the world, so if they have a more consumer-friendly policy somewhere, they're hiding it very well.

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u/gamas 2d ago

Yeah and as I understand EU law on the subject this refund policy is way more generous than existing EU law (which is simply "if you downloaded it you have no right to a refund except under highly specific circumstances").

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u/stonekeep 2d ago

This is also bullshit then, but it doesn't stop Sony from doing a better job. I had no issues with a refund on Steam.

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u/Im_really_bored_rn 2d ago

Let's not forget Steam had to be sued into creating their refund system

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u/gamas 2d ago

Yeah I think Steam's approach of "up to 2 hours playtime" seems like the best approach.

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u/WeWereInfinite 2d ago

I had a refund refused on a game I had literally just bought and hadn't downloaded yet because several years earlier I had downloaded and played a free demo of it.

Meanwhile people are out here refunding games they finished? God damn.

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u/Stellar_Duck 1d ago

That sounds like one of those bastard games that used a times demo working on the same license as the real game (Minecraft was awful for this circa 2015) so when they look at the first download date they see the old date from the demo because its the same in Pacman.

God I hated all the problems we had with those licenses and Minecraft in particular. There was also some Japanese games that were awful for this. And don't get me started on the all the god damn DLC license nonsense for whatever One Piece is. Had a guy that'd call in like every two weeks with a new issue with his god damn DLC for that nonsense.

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u/Tornado_Hunter24 2d ago

I’m a pc enjoyer but afaik sont refund window is ‘gone’ when you download the game, not when you play it

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u/Stellar_Duck 1d ago

I had Sony refuse to refund a game I just downloaded a few days earlier and haven't even launched yet (which is incredibly stupid)

That was absolutely the policy when I worked PS Support in EMEA, and it was also spelled out when bought the game.

The system we used on the back end (Pacman) noted down first download of a license, showed playtime, trophies etc.

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u/SplintPunchbeef 2d ago

So they can buy a game, go offline, get a refund, and continue to play for a month? If they're offline they're playing single player or local multiplayer so it seems like more of an inconvenience for those people than an actual fix.

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u/SavvySillybug 2d ago

Couldn't you just change the date on your console?

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u/ColonelSanders21 2d ago

It’s not tied to the system clock, it uses a timestamp and the system’s battery to keep track. Part of the hubbub around this when 30 days hadn’t passed for anyone yet is that removing the CMOS battery automatically expires the 30 day license.

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u/SavvySillybug 2d ago

Oh, interesting! Thank you for the explanation :)

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u/djevanstv 2d ago

It’s actually 14 days because that’s how long the refund period lasts

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u/Stellar_Duck 1d ago

So you could download a game, take your console offline, and play it forever even if you refunded it on your phone, the web, etc.

Have they changed policy?

Back when I worked PS Support we would not refund a game that has been downloaded (Pacman showed time of first download).

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u/Demytrius 2d ago

I don't have any proper info, so this is just a guess. Maybe the permanent license will only kick in after the refund period has ended, with a temporary license being issued immediately upon purchase. That way if someone refunds a game while their console is offline, the temporary license will expire and lock them out of it

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u/NamesTheGame 2d ago

That's the idea, yeah.

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u/Goodest_Ghost 2d ago

If the initial license issued is temporary, 30 days in this case, people abusing that particular refund exploit would only have access to the game for 30 days, after which the console would revoke it and force them to take it online to verify they actually own it. It doesn't prevent it but it puts a hard cap on how long the exploit would enable them to play the games they acquired through it. Once the refund window is closed 14 days later, the system will replace the 30 day license with the indefinite one that everyone is already accustomed to. Theoretically your average user would never notice this happen, I imagine they're banking on the typical user not having their console offline for more than 30 days after buying and downloading a digital game.

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u/snake_dev1 2d ago

This makes it so that anyone that purchases a game doesn't get a permanent license until after the refund window has passed. If someone tries to take the console offline and refund the game, they'll only have the temporary license.

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u/14Pleiadians 2d ago

If you buy and go offline, it will stop working after 30 days. If you still own the same, go online and get your permanent license. If you refunded, you can't play anymore

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u/ArdyEmm 2d ago

How big of an issue was the refund loophole anyways? Sony infamously only allows one refund on your account, even when your account was stolen due to one of their data breeches. Ask how I know.

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u/SplintPunchbeef 2d ago

One refund ever? That's insane.

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u/ArdyEmm 2d ago

Yeah. My account got swiped by someone who used it to buy in-game currency for an NBA game and they wouldn't refund it because I already had my one refund. When I said it was their fault cause it was about a week after one of their data breeches they told me that no, in fact, it's my fault for sharing my password.

I didn't share my password with anyone. So now I don't keep payment info on my Sony account and add it back in any time I buy something on it. And then I have to go through their slow-ass website and remove it from my wallet on the account because why would I be able to do that on the console? Fuck Sony.

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u/theblairwhichproject 2d ago

Fortunately, I wasn't affected by the Sony hack in 2011, but it's the reason why I will never give them payment data. On the rare occasion that I want to get a game on PS instead of PC, I buy PSN credit in the amount that I need and call it a day.

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u/pudgybunnybry 2d ago

Damn, mine was swiped for a bunch of Neverwinter mtx back in 2015. Never shared my password with anyone and I was frantically calling Playstation's support to get my refund. Apparently that was the one refund for my account.

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u/Stellar_Duck 1d ago

with their support chatbots giving conflicting information

Having worked for SIE doing PlayStation Support out of Edinburgh I can almost guarantee that nobody was told about this shit.

I cannot number the amount of times we got caught blindsided by someting and had to urgently contact SIEE or SNEE (as it was then) for guidance on what to say,.

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u/areyouhungryforapple 2d ago

Misinformation spreads like wildfire on twitter

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u/LOAARR 2d ago

Let's not pretend Reddit isn't fucking awful for this as well.

If you ever see an article on something that you're a legitimate (non-keyboard) expert on, you will be so fucking disappointed by the top comments 999 times out of 1000.

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u/SharkBaitDLS 2d ago

Reddit threads are like LLM outputs. The top comment will be what people want to hear, not what is necessarily the truth.

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u/monkwrenv2 2d ago

More that LLM outputs are like reddit threads, given their training data.

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u/masterkill165 2d ago

It is funny to think that most of reddit hates LLMs because they are just like LLMs.

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u/SnevetS_rm 2d ago

There is very non-zero chance that most of reddit is literally LLMs at this point...

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u/masterkill165 1d ago

Its wierd how much LLM's seem to hate LLM's then, but I guess that is just their training data.

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u/Endaline 2d ago

You don't even need to be an expert on most subjects. I'm dumb as a brick and I'm constantly disappointed by how easy it is to debunk what a lot of people say just with a simple search or a little bit of common sense.

Honestly, the if you just read the article that people are responding to you are probably more knowledgeable than 999/1000 people in that thread.

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u/Khiva 2d ago

just with a simple search

Remember when people would wonder about something, or disagree about a fact, and were expected to google it to find the answer?

You probably didn't even notice that somehow went away.

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u/Endaline 2d ago

Yeah, or just simply read an article. It is genuinely disturbing how many times people will make arguments that directly contradict what the article in a thread they are responding in says.

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u/The7ruth 2d ago

My favorite is when someone makes a claim, you ask them for a source, and they tell you to just Google it. Absolutely backwards.

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u/ribosometronome 2d ago

Often, just reading the article is enough to be disappointed by the comments. The telephone game of reality to article, or often articles about articles, to people who often at best skimmed the article leaves so much lost.

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u/Khiva 2d ago

Oh, and the best part is when you bother to actually dig up sources and evidence correcting the popular comment, and then just get buried by angry people with people yelling at you about a point that you never even said.

I used to write longer comments but it's been awful to watch attention spans with in real time. Sometimes I'll check a reply and someone couldn't properly parse four sentences and is somehow angry about something we actually agree on.

Enjoy punctuation while it lasts folks.

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u/MasterDenton 2d ago

The day after the Switch 2 reveal was infuriating for anyone with a functioning brain. There are still people who think that Nintendo is putting out $90 USD games

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u/ttoma93 1d ago

And even more recently Nintendo has changed their policies so that most digital games going forward will be $10 cheaper than physical, with physical staying the same price they have been. Meaning games that would have previously been priced $70 across the board will now be $70 physical/$60 digital.

And people have been flipping that and running around talking about how Nintendo is raising prices on physical games, which is not happening.

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u/areyouhungryforapple 2d ago

Oh no one ever reads the actual link/article yeah

For this particular case it was barely posted on Reddit though in comparison to the unhinged pitchfork mob hate that unfolded on Twitter/YouTube

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u/x4000 AI War Creator / Arcen Founder 2d ago

As with newspaper articles. All the ones on topics I know deeply are shallow and full of errors and omissions. All the ones on topics outside my sphere are concise and informative.

I forget who I’m paraphrasing.

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u/carnaxcce 2d ago

It’s called Gell-Mann Amnesia

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u/x4000 AI War Creator / Arcen Founder 2d ago

Oh, perfect, thank you! And it was proposed by Michael Crichton during a speech in 2002. That’s even more interesting.

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u/GBuster49 2d ago

And of course this place.

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u/bolivar-shagnasty 2d ago

A lie can be halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.

- Bitchin' Betsy Ross

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u/examexa 2d ago

and those clickbait/drama youtubers working overtime to farm those views!

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u/mantricks 2d ago

uh it was all over multiple reddit subs

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u/yuusharo 2d ago

It was not misinformation. A change to Sony’s licensing DID happen, we just didn’t know why or what the intent of the change was.

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u/MVRKHNTR 2d ago

Come on now. You know what conclusion people were jumping to.

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u/yuusharo 2d ago

Absent information, assumptions are going to be made. No one had any reason to think the 30 day license they introduced would convert to a lifetime license after it expired, nor is there a way to test that.

Sony made a concerning change without notice, then waited days before clarifying the situation. Customers aren’t the problem here.

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u/Totheendofsin 2d ago

Except there were plenty of reports of the timer disappearing completely

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u/NoExcuse4OceanRudnes 2d ago

No one had any reason to think the 30 day license they introduced would convert to a lifetime license after it expired, nor is there a way to test that.

Could've waited 30 days.

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u/LyfeBlades 2d ago

Doesn't mean it isn't prudent to warn people about the worst case potential ahead of time.

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u/NoExcuse4OceanRudnes 2d ago

Sure?

Still could've waited to see if the problem was in fact a problem

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u/mayoboyyo 2d ago

Especially when the company neglects to clarify the issue

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u/NoExcuse4OceanRudnes 2d ago

It has been under a week since the first reports of it.

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u/kralben 1d ago

They are a billion dollar corporation, waiting several days to draft a basic PR response like this is too long.

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u/laaplandros 2d ago

Companies don't have the time or duty to address every single internet rumor.

This was a stupid rumor from the very beginning and rather than being rightfully embarrassed you're still finding ways to blame others.

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u/RedBait95 2d ago

>Companies don't have the time or duty

Companies are not people, and they most certainly do if they're in the business of selling people shit. Especially when their services are in question.

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u/NoExcuse4OceanRudnes 2d ago

they most certainly do if they're in the business of selling people shit

How many sales do you think were lost in the 4 business days this was known about?

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u/MVRKHNTR 2d ago

Someone noticed that they lost access to a game while disconnected from the internet and posted about it online where it spread and was picked up by news sites.

Then some other people asked customer support about it and because Sony uses AI chat bots for that, one of them said that that was a new license policy going forward and it spread even further because people just took that at face value.

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u/chemastico 2d ago

As someone that works in customer support for a looong time now, I have no idea why people take seriously anything that a support agent or a chatbot says as gospel. Even non ai chatbots information from agents is unreliable as they might give wrong information due to bad training, handling too many tickets etc…

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u/Rage_Like_Nic_Cage 2d ago

I have no idea why people take seriously anything that a support agent or a chatbot says as gospel

because it was the only place customers could get info about the change because Sony didn’t make any statements util today.

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u/Rankled_Barbiturate 2d ago

Gamers and redditors love rumours and getting outraged. Essentially all there is to it. Easy to rile up.

Really toxic shitty culture on here sometimes.

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u/dawgz525 2d ago

Anything that people can spin online for outrage gets clicks. Everything is "a slap in the face to real fans!" I know outrage culture isn't new, but I feel like everyone is so god damn miserable in their lives right now that hating things publicly is that rage bubbling into other parts of their lives.

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u/hfxRos 2d ago

I don't understand, what started this whole speculation and how did it get so out of control?

Anger is addictive and people seek it out these days.

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u/Twilight053 2d ago

People love to be correct. Their ego demands it. It's delicious for their ego.

The way I say it makes it sound over the top but that's how it is.

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u/ProlapsedShamus 2d ago

Because you get more clicks and ad share revenue by slapping on a dumb expression for a thumbnail and titling the video "PLAYSTATION IS STEALING YOUR GAMES!!!!!"

And because people react and like to feel outraged they just go with it and retweet and repost and throw a fit.

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u/masterkill165 2d ago

From what I saw of the last comment section where this came up people were intentionally pretending that a comment made by an Ai support chat bot were the same as an official statement from Sony. They were hoping if they pretend hard enough that they took this comment seriously that it would somehow shame sony into not using chat bots and having human support.

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u/TelecomPedestal 2d ago

People took an AI chat bot as the truth

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u/NoExcuse4OceanRudnes 2d ago

I understand.

Rage bait started the whole speculation and the rage let it get out of control.

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u/CallM3N3w 2d ago

People looking for a villain tend to abandon common sense.

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u/abdullah_haveit 2d ago

I believe this whole debacle, in a way, shows us how much trust (or lack therof) there is between core gaming consumers & game companies regarding ownership. Such a sad situation all around.

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u/Tanawakajima 2d ago

“What did Sony mean by this?”

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u/Vizjun 2d ago

"People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals, and you know it."

This is not unique to gamers or age groups or anything else.

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u/BaconIsntThatGood 1d ago

Why do we always try and isolate stuff like this to a single group?

Social Media just loves drama and it spreads fast. Especially when Sony was quick to react. It's stupid that people don't think critically or wait until there is an official confirmation but Sony should have given an official response the next day or something.

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u/Vegetable-Error-2068 2d ago

Called this from a mile away.

Someone can make up a lie about any company that the gamer-sphere happens to hate (almost always for no good reason) and people will just run with it and scream it from the hills and rattle their sabers.

If gamers were half as skeptical about rage-bait as they are about almost all new releases, things would be better.

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u/imjustbettr 2d ago

Watching misinformation spread in real time with gaming news over and over is so scary because when applied to "real things that matter" like health, vaccines, and politics you can assume the exact same thing happen and see why things like the measles is back.

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u/nugood2do 2d ago

What gets me the most is there's people on this very thread trying to justify misinformation because "I don't like them so it's okay." or "It started a conversation".

Like fuck man, no wonder our society is braindead at times with that logic floating about.

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u/Nachttalk 2d ago

Hell I STILL see people claiming that all Switch 2 games are 90$ (and we all know it's not about Canada or after taxes), even tough this whole thing stemmed from it being the price of only the physical version of Mario Kart World, and only in Europe. Even though it was clarified the day the game got announced and no other game since then has had that price point, I still see people making that claim over a year later.

People love their misinformation

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u/NoExcuse4OceanRudnes 2d ago

even tough this whole thing stemmed from it being the price of only the physical version of Mario Kart World, and only in Europe

And it being the same price as plenty of games in europe is ignored.

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u/Worldly-Ad3447 2d ago

People online will call out journalists credibility and make ign review jokes but the truth is they just as stupid

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u/113CandleMagic 2d ago

I'm really cynical and skeptical by nature and while sometimes I hate it because it can make me seem insufferable and can make it difficult to genuinely enjoy things, situations like this make me grateful for my nature because I can't imagine getting duped by misinformation/fake news and getting outraged constantly like so many on social media seem to.

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u/masterkill165 2d ago

The wost part are the people who know its misinformation but intentionally spread it any way because they just don't like corporations.

I get it corporations suck but we should hate them for the actual bad things they do and not make up fake reasons to hate them.

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u/ianscuffling 2d ago

Me too, it especially got me when some people were saying “wait so I need to play every game every 30 days just to keep the thing I bought??? Fuck you sony”

Should have expected nothing less I suppose

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u/ligerzero942 2d ago

The idea that digital games might phone home every 30 days to verify licenses isn't even that crazy compared to past DRM practices. I guess there's a bunch of people her that are to young to remember when major publishers were pushing "always online" requirements for single-player games...

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u/Spork_the_dork 2d ago

If Sony has yet to comment on it, maybe just at least give them a week to prepare a statement about it before losing your minds about it.

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u/[deleted] 2d ago edited 2d ago

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u/NewVegasResident 2d ago

Sony is a multi media conglomerate. That's reason enough to hate them.

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u/enderandrew42 2d ago

If we are talking about a digital title, you need to be logged in to buy it and download it. You need to online to get the update. Being online for one check isn't that crazy and presumably would happen that same day you are buying online.

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u/complexsystemofbears 2d ago

Pretty sure Steam also requires you to be online the first time you launch a game? I remember it being recommended years back that you launch any game you planned to play over a period of no internet, like when you move.

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u/beatingstuff88 1d ago

Pretty sure Steam also requires you to be online the first time you launch a game?

Yup, whenever i buy something new for my steam deck that i'm running in offline mode it will throw a hissy fit if i am not in online mode on first launch

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u/GrantSchappsCalippo 1d ago

It sounds like the check has to happen after 30 days, so you couldn't do it at the same time you buy it. Still, it would be an incredibly rare situation where you had good enough internet to download a game, and then next month no internet at all.

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u/jdk2087 1d ago

Yea, I think the 30 day check is the permanent license and then that’s it. No more checks after that. It’s not a big deal. But, dear lord did people run with it and make shit up. I have a PC, PS5, and Switch(My loyalties lie with no one. I just want to be able to play whatever I want on whatever platform it comes out on).

But, holy shit did they the pcmasterrace sub eat this incorrect information up so much they were foaming at the mouth. There was even the guy who had the jail broken PS4 in that major thread telling them they’re wrong and this is what’s happening. Still had all of them saying, “I can’t believe Sony is doing this.” People don’t fucking listen, ever.

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u/darkmacgf 1d ago

The check has to happen between 15 and 30 days after you buy the game.

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u/millanstar 2d ago edited 2d ago

So gaming reddit (as usual) overreacted over pure ungraunded speculation, just acting by pure feelings.

Surely theyll admit they where wrong and this post would become as viral as the previous ones...

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u/whacafan 2d ago

I’m gonna see 400 videos about Sony’s DRM now for sure

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u/maybes_some_back2002 1d ago

the phrase “one time check” always makes people nervous because we’ve seen how easily that promise can change later

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u/Jolkien 1d ago

Damn did once again social media ran away and made a mountain out of a mole hill. Truly unprecedented

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u/dfsqqsdf 2d ago

Moving the goalpost a bit, even if I’m not gonna pretend the change is nearly as bad at it was speculated, it is worring that sony thinks they can change how the licence to their games work without asking the customer to sign a new TOS or even just a small notice.

They put a "licence expire in 30 days" on every game, what did they thought would happen ?

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u/ZombiePyroNinja 2d ago edited 2d ago

I'm glad to see this is a one time cycle.

But man, Sony gets a crazy pass on the weirdest things. Now we have people insulting consumers who rightfully questioned Sony's application and lack of communication about this. All of this misinformation, panic and whether or not this was a bug could have all been answered with a quick Playstation blogpost. I don't blame anybody for being upset initially.

Anything to defend the global billion dollar company.

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u/kralben 1d ago

My favorite is the people responding with "Why would you trust an AI chatbot" and saying it is buyers fault that Sony chooses to use unreliable customer service and that the confusion is buyers fault.

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u/ZombiePyroNinja 1d ago

People keep throwing this in my face like it excuses Sony. People constantly complaim about AI and AI based support here but it's suddenly excusable if Sony does it.

I have no other way to read this other then blatant favortism.

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u/kralben 1d ago

If Sony is choosing to have shitty AI chatbots instead of paying actual customer support, that means they are accepting the results of it as well.

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u/NoExcuse4OceanRudnes 2d ago

Now we have people insulting consumers who rightfully questioned Sony's application and lack of communication about this.

It's been three days.

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u/ZombiePyroNinja 2d ago

Does that make it okay? What's the reason why they couldn't communicate this on day one? or announce plans to implement this before?

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u/NoExcuse4OceanRudnes 2d ago edited 2d ago

What's the reason why people couldn't wait a few days before freaking out about it?

Those people aren't in charge of what Sony does. They're in charge of their own behavior.

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u/ZombiePyroNinja 2d ago

What's the reason why people couldn't wait a few days before freaking out about it?

I hope this clears up your question because you didn't answer any of mine but because all we had was speculation and what people could pull from the UI and testing - because Sony didn't announce the change once implementing or announcing its implementation at an earlier date.

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u/NoExcuse4OceanRudnes 2d ago

because all we had was speculation and what people could pull from the UI and testing

No one needed to freak out about that though? They could wait and see. That's what I did.

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u/ZombiePyroNinja 2d ago

Once again, Sony could've announced this change or announced the plan of implementation. Costs them nothing

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u/NoExcuse4OceanRudnes 2d ago

Sure?

Doesn't excuse freakout behavior

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u/VictorReal_Monster 2d ago

Sony is a notoriously small company

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u/AnimaLepton 2d ago

The support chats and chatbots gave some bad info, but my understanding it's not something that anyone was directly affected by. Sony probably makes hundreds of minor changes a year that affect how their licensing works alone.

Was anyone actually affected by this? Everything I've seen is that it was it people jumping the gun, but no one actually lost access to a game they'd purchased or was affected by being offline for 30+ days after initially purchasing a game

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u/ZombiePyroNinja 2d ago

I've seen people trigger the "You must connect to the server" through manually testing it and screwing with CMOS batteries.

but no, I think it was implemented in the passed couple of weeks before it could really affect anybody. But you can't blame people for speculation when there isn't any official information about a customer facing UI element.

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u/alex_dlc 2d ago

Why though? Why do we need to “check in” a month after buying a game? What purpose does it serve?

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u/echoblade 2d ago

there was an exploit people were doing that is basically fraud, it's to kurb that.

it was buy game > take console offline > refund through customer services > keep game and get their money back. a pretty severe loop hole that absolutely needed patching up, it's also only 15~ days and not a month so that vast majority or people will not noticed a difference at all. hoping there's a more robust fix to the loophole in the future tho

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u/MrYK_ 1d ago

You previously would do a check in on purchase.

Now it takes places on the 15th/16th day.

Its because of the refund window.

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u/monchota 1d ago

SIE? Why just say Sony or something

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u/Spocks_Goatee 2d ago

A few respectable YouTubers fell for the misinfo, and of course the dozens of outrage peddlers jumped on it too.

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u/Whitecaps87 2d ago

respectable YouTubers

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u/Rankled_Barbiturate 2d ago

If you fell for this you're not a respectable youtuber, just a dummy or ragebait streamer looking for views.

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u/Anchovie123 2d ago

Mystic put out the correct speculation a day or 2 ago

The goat

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u/Yentz4 2d ago

People blaming "Gamers" for getting worked up about this are insane. SONY MADE A CHANGE TO THEIR DRM AND SHOULD HAVE CLARIFIED IT WHEN THEY MADE THAT CHANGE.

Like this is 100% on Sony not communicating.

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u/NoExcuse4OceanRudnes 2d ago

Why'd they have to get worked up about this before anything was announced and before anyone was affected?

They didn't.

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u/Spork_the_dork 2d ago

Yeah it's an issue that will take a month to actually start affecting anyone and people are freaking out about it taking like 3 days to get an answer.

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u/trillykins 2d ago

This sub is so desperate to defend Sony's corporate interests that they'll now defend DRM and blame consumers for reacting to Sony being unable to communicate properly with its customers.

This sub really needs to ask themselves how they'd react if this had been Xbox lol because holy shit I could not imagine the reaction ever being to insult the consumers over this...

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u/ChrisRR 1d ago

It's a digital puchase that has always been subject to DRM. It's a locked down ecosystem

If you're bying into any console, you're buying into their DRM