Popular PlayStation Game Removed From User Libraries With No Explanation, Here's Why

Keep an eye out for an official email from PlayStation in your inboxes this morning, because Sony has seemingly revoked the licence for a very popular PlayStation Plus title on certain users’ PlayStation accounts.

Back in September, PlayStation users were treated to a banger PlayStation Plus Essential month.

Viewfinder, Psychonauts 2, and Stardew Valley could all be yours to keep, for the mere price of a monthly PlayStation Plus subscription.

Of course, “free” games on PlayStation Plus Essential aren’t free to keep in the standard sense.

Obviously, you have to pay a one-off monthly fee to claim them in the first place, but you’ll have to continuously keep your PS Plus subscription active if you want to retain access to them.

Well, that was the case for Psychonauts 2 and Viewfinder required at least. Oddly enough, users discovered that Stardew Valley, easily the most popular title in September’s PlayStation Plus Essential line-up, was subject to a bit of a strange loophole that let PS Plus users claim it indefinitely.

As spotted by @Wario64 on Twitter, if PlayStation Plus subscribers claimed Stardew Valley through PlayStation Plus, then booted up either a PlayStation Vita or a PlayStation 3 and headed over to the PlayStation Store, it was possible to claim a permanent “cross-buy” licence for the game.

PlayStation Plus Essential games have been subject to a few of these weird loopholes in the past. In fact, occasionally, you didn’t even need to claim the games using anything other than a PlayStation 4 or a PlayStation 5 to grant yourself a permanent digital licence.

It seems like it was a quirk in the digital distribution of licences on Sony’s behalf during the earlier days of PlayStation Plus Essential, because (after a quick browse through my own library) it seems that several PlayStation Plus games were erroneously given away permanently at one point in time.

However, while Sony hasn’t rectified these mistakes in the past, it seems they’ve put their foot down with Stardew Valley. @Wario64 posted a follow-up to their original Stardew Valley Tweet last night that explains users are being emailed a “refund request” for the game, which revokes the permanent license for the game (if it was obtained via the aforementioned loophole).

To clarify, you’ll still “own” the game if you claimed it through PlayStation Plus Essential in September– but you’ll only own it in the sense that the digital licence is tied to your PlayStation Plus subscription.

Just another sad reminder that digital ownership isn’t truly ownership. Remember to buy physical where you can, folks.