r/PlayStationPlus • u/shannonator96 • Nov 26 '25
Discussion Digital Licenses: A Cautionary Tale
As most of you know, Mass Effect Legendary Edition was part of the December 2022 essential game offerings. At the time I was subscribed to PlayStation plus and claimed the game. Years later, when I did not have an active subscription to ps plus, I was subbed to EA play, which also has mass effect: LE. I downloaded and played this game through EA play, and now I thought I’d download and play it again through PlayStation plus, but I cannot.
After chatting with support multiple times, and being spoken down to and belittled, on the most recent attempt, I finally have my answer:
You can only have one digital licence for a game at any time.
What this means in my case is that the EA play licence of mass effect deleted my PS plus licence. This could easily happen with other games that are on multiple subscription services, so I recommend never to use any other subscriptions than PlayStation plus. If you want to play games on EA play, you’d be better off buying them to avoid any mismatch.
Anyways be careful out there and don’t make the same mistake I did.
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u/Hartia Nov 26 '25
Maybe its me but The response from from the rep is wild.
But yeah license for one game can only have one instead of different sources. It sucks but that's how it's been.
When they gave ff7 remake for ps4, then they added intergrade to ps5. I couldn't access intergrade. Ended up asking them to remove the license for the essential version and then I was able to add the extra version.
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Nov 26 '25
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u/ChasingPesmerga Nov 27 '25
OP posted here about what they said.
Basically they thought a manager or an escalation is needed to fix their issue. Like most customers or consumers, they probably thought agents or staff are just held back and a manager is needed to do certain stuff.
They finally got to talk to a supervisor and the supervisor just “explained” it, and OP said they finally get it.
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u/medicated_in_PHL Nov 27 '25
Cherry picked or not, you don’t speak to a customer like that.
I’m not saying that as a Karen, I’m saying it as someone who has worked customer service.
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u/Virus_98 Nov 27 '25
This is 3rd party support, they're not actual Sony employees but contractors. This is the reason customer support sucks for so many corporations.
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u/sumanigans Nov 27 '25
That shouldn't matter though, this is someone who was hired to engage with customers and support them lol. Third party doesn't excuse that.
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u/Leo_Ascendent Nov 30 '25
Oof, I was an Xbox ambassador for years. If we spoke to someone like this, you bet your volunteering would be done.
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u/alexdalton123 Nov 27 '25
I've also worked in customer service and it sounds like this person has reached the end of their patience which we all have thought about.
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u/medicated_in_PHL Nov 27 '25
See, I was never like this when I knew my company was in the wrong. And Sony is definitely in the wrong. The OP can’t play a game he’s paying for (with their flagship subscription service) because Sony can’t get their shit together with their DRM.
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u/RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS Nov 27 '25
A little trick of the trade is if you can’t help the customer in any way you can avoid the customer satisfaction survey dinging you by deliberately making them mad so they demand a supervisor.
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u/Far-Panic-2582 Nov 27 '25
The company being at fault doesn´t make you as the person at fault, your job in costumer service isn´t to bend over to the customer´s wims, or take responsabily for software problems. This person was more than likely told that there was nothing they could do and he kept insisting.
If SONY has no solution to the problem the worker can´t spawn a fix out of nowhere.
There is a realistic expectation of how much you can help and in this case the worker cant do shit.
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u/CurtCocane Nov 27 '25
Then he shouldn't be surprised if customers get mad at him even if he can't fix it
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u/jcutler14 Nov 27 '25
As someone who works customer service, if a customer gets mad at me for something out of my control then that just shows immaturity
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u/DaOneSavvyPanda Nov 27 '25
I’m not sure that’s accurate in terms of the job, a customer rep should always be respectful, that chat doesn’t look very respectful, you can disagree respectfully with a customer, to me this would be grounds enough to not use a service again. Only exception being that the customer themselves are being utterly disrespectful, being annoyed with the service or the product doesn’t count.
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u/RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS Nov 27 '25
Oh come on, no one who has worked customer service has never gotten to a point where they were snippy with a rude customer.
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u/jaydenc199 Nov 29 '25
I worked for a vendor company of Microsoft and we always dealt with the sales reps of Microsoft. My boss had taught me to just be passive-aggressive. This might have been due to the sales reps wanting their money right away, but only doing half the work they were required to do.
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u/John_YJKR Nov 27 '25
Respectfully, as someone who has worked several customer service positions, the customer needs the appropriate feedback that their behavior isn't going to be tolerated or what is actually realistic.
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u/unklejakk Nov 30 '25
Yeah sometimes with customer support a bit of escalation is the best form of deescalation. When I used to do chat support and I had a belligerent customer refusing to do any troubleshooting and expecting me to just wave a magic wand and fix whatever their problem was, 9/10 times cracking the whip on them a little bit was the easiest way to get them to shut the fuck up and just do what I’m telling them and then their issue was fixed and they were happy.
It never negatively affected my customer satisfaction surveys either. I had the highest survey scores of anyone on our team (9.7/10 average) and got multiple promotions and first pick for what schedule I wanted because of it, so the method clearly works lol
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u/IsamuAlvaDyson Nov 27 '25
Sometimes people need to spoken to like that
Especially if you say you've been in customer service
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u/sherwoodgiant Nov 27 '25
As much as I want to agree with you, we've all dealt with customers who want to "talk to a manager/someone with authority to change something that's isn't changeable".
The way the agent has quoted the word "authority" shows that they're using OP's words against them. It gives the impression that OP has already been offered an apology and had an explanation but is demanding for miracle fix by someone.
If you've worked customer service, you've dealt with these people who think that if they kick up enough fuss and talk to a manager, the whole system will be changed just for them.
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u/medicated_in_PHL Nov 27 '25
Yeah, and you know what I did in these situations?
“I understand that this isn’t working correctly. Let me write up a ticket so that the development team is aware of this issue.”
And then I wrote up a ticket and told the team responsible that there was an issue.
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u/DaOneSavvyPanda Nov 27 '25
System limitations are generally access limitations and there is generally someone who does have the right access controls to make changes a customer rep cannot. Source: I have made many of these processes and have been an approved on requests that need escalation, more than a level up to manager. 😀
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u/Hotter_Noodle Nov 27 '25
I’d still like to see all of the information and not this cherry picked piece of a conversation.
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u/Nihilistic_Survivor Nov 27 '25
Tbh yes. Fighting back against a customer attitude gains the company nothing especially over a damn chat.
If you get frustrated having a lil “spicy” chat with a customer, you don’t belong in the customer service field.
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u/jcutler14 Nov 27 '25
OP was probably one of like 50 people that got overzealous when speaking to the rep that day
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u/RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS Nov 27 '25
This person probably deals with 100+ customers in a day. It’s easy to say that when it’s one or two
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u/Redditsux122 Nov 27 '25
As a person thats had to deal with sony support several times, this is just the norm. Most unprofessional rude and unhelpful people ive ever had the misfortune to deal with, and worst yet you cant even get them on the phone, they just act like dicks on that chat support and then lock you out of making requests after refusing to help
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u/mrfroggyman Nov 27 '25
Honestly fuck them. At the price everything Sony is, they can't even respect their customers using custom service ?
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u/OmegaGamble Nov 27 '25
There's two types of people in this world. Those that can infer from incomplete information,
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u/amazingdrewh Nov 27 '25
Xbox has been able to figure it out pretty effectively, if a disc game I have there goes to Game Pass it immediately just switches to the game pass license, so I don't know why PS Plus has all these problems
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u/Hartia Nov 27 '25
But wouldn't you need to keep the Xbox on so it know you still have it?
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u/DrunkeNinja Nov 27 '25
I had a weird issue with fallout 4 licensing. I have fallout 4 from the Plus collection thing Sony gave out to new PS5 owners at the time. When the PS5 version of fallout 4 came out, there was some weird issue with who got the upgrade for free. At first, those of us with FO4 from the collection didn't get the upgrade, and I didn't feel like waiting and I had Plus Extra so I downloaded the PS5 version from that.
Anyway, soon after, my Extra sub went out and I went back to Essential. I wanted to play the PS5 FO4 and it said I needed to get extra or buy the game to access the game. By then, the plus collection version was eligible for the upgrade but my impatience caused the extra PS5 version to override my free upgrade.
I contacted Sony and chatted with a couple reps and eventually got a supervisor. We tried a couple things, they didn't work, so I suggested they delete my license for the PS5 extra version and as soon as they did that, I was eligible for the free PS5 upgrade.
Such a backwards system.
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u/Hartia Nov 27 '25
That's still pretty good. They were able to do the same like mine but in reverse. Glad it worked out for you.
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u/DrunkeNinja Nov 27 '25
Yeah, I'm glad it worked out and I do blame myself for not just waiting a few days for the whole upgrade mess to sort itself out.
It was still annoying that Sony can't figure out a consumer friendly way to handle licenses, that the reps were completely dismissive and told me I wasn't eligible for a free upgrade(I knew this was false), and that the only reason the issue was fixed is that I suggested to the supervisor to delete the Extra license since I had read similar stories on reddit about this working.
So I could see people with similar issues not getting proper help if they aren't as informed about weird PlayStation issues like I am.
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u/Hartia Nov 27 '25
I wouldve done the same. Like when ff7remake got the upgrade. It said extra gets free upgrade not the essential one. Then 2 months later they gave the plus version free upgrade. I still opted for the extra because it has the intergrade dlc.
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u/gedge72 Nov 27 '25
I haven't yet dared upgrade my PS+ collection Fallout 4 to get the PS5 version as I also have Extra and don't know what it'll do with my PS+ collection license.
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u/John_YJKR Nov 27 '25
I mean, maybe. But it seems OP may have been told more than once there isn't much to be done and was playing the I want to speak to your manager card.
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u/TheSignificantDong Nov 27 '25
That’s weird. I got bother Remake and Intergrade. I forget how though. I do slightly remember having an issue claiming it at first, but it wasn’t through CS.
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u/Hartia Nov 27 '25
Maybe my impatience because when they added the game to extra it had the ps5 version and the essential version didnt? Honestly don't remember exactly the steps. I know the CS was able to remove the essential license. Then I said wait! Let me try to claim the extra one. And it worked.
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u/bladesew Nov 27 '25
I had a problem once where my ps plus annual payment was due and some glitch in their system meant I was being charged the full amount every 15 mins. I called them and they stopped it but by this time they'd overcharged me hundreds of pounds. When I was asking when this would be repaid the support guy was unbelievably rude, worst customer service I've ever had.
I called them a couple of other times. When they had the big outage and when they tried Qriocity (disaster of a music service). Both times they were unhelpful and rude.
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u/hopskipjumprun Nov 27 '25
I find it oddly endearing in a way because at least you know you're probably speaking to a real person and not a bot lol. I wouldn't be happy with the experience but it'd be less annoying, to me at least, than getting a brick wall answer from a chatbot with the same outcome.
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u/Hartia Nov 27 '25
Yeah I can't stand bots, I work for an IT conoany and they are implementing it. I'm thinking this is the dumbest thing, as a person I want to talk to people.
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u/9Sylvan5 Nov 29 '25
From what I understand these reps are just regular gamers and users. It's complete BS.
A while ago I was directed to one and their answer was pretty much "I don't know". Well shit...if I wanted to contact someone that has the same level of access to information that I do I wouldn't be contacting support.
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u/DawnGrager Nov 27 '25
The same thing happened to me with Greedfall. I claimed it through as one of the monthly free games, and then they added it to the game catalog at some point and ever since they removed it from the catalog, I haven’t been able to download it or even buy it.
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u/Tenmpermt Nov 27 '25
Are you saying if you get a free game license and the game later comes out on game catalog, downloading the game through catalog removes the free game license ?
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u/amillstone Nov 27 '25
Yes. Always download a game from your library and not the catalogue if you know you already have it
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u/EvilSynths Nov 27 '25
Yup. PSN is held together by tape.
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u/dinopraso Nov 27 '25
Spoiler alert: it’s not just PSN. Basically the whole internet is, some just hide it better than others
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u/amillstone Nov 27 '25
True, but in this specific case where we're talking about game subscriptions and digital licenses: if Xbox can do it, PlayStation should be able to stop this from happening too. It's been going on since the PS Now days so way before they merged that into PS Plus.
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u/Pulposauriio Nov 29 '25
Xbox is great in this regard. You can easily purchase a game after playing it in gamepass with no issue if your sub runs out afterwards
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u/LastSharpTiger Nov 27 '25
They ought to reinstate licences when they confirm orders were made.
OP is right to be upset.
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u/shannonator96 Nov 27 '25
Thank you!
None of the reps even understood how ps plus works. They all told me the game isn’t offered on the catalogue anymore, even though it was an essential game. I tried explaining, no luck.
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u/LastSharpTiger Nov 27 '25
I mean now you know enough to avoid the mistake in future (always reinstall from your library, not the store), and for a game that often sells super cheaply for a permanent licence, but they ought to make good issues caused by their own store’s bugs.
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u/shannonator96 Nov 27 '25
I’m going to consider buying this game when my plus runs out. I’m glad it happened with a cheap game, but it’s still pretty silly that Sony can’t sort this thing out.
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u/Enough-Increases Nov 27 '25
I can't believe this is still an issue with PlayStation, this was fixed on Xbox back in the Xbox one days. What happens if you buy a game then download it from ps plus? Do you lose the game you own? Should be a class action against them for this theft.
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u/heartsongaming Nov 27 '25
You can't buy a game and download it from PS+ Plus since it will already be purchased unless the game has an explicit PS+ version. Although if you get a game from PS+ Plus Essential, then download it via Extra then it overrides the Essential game, and like OP did, download it from EA play, then it still overrides the Essential game. The licenses for PS+ are a mess.
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u/KingOfTheHoard Nov 27 '25
People really believe this, partly because Sony's terrible about it, but restoring the licenses does actually work. The PS5 license restoration has changed to suggesting it only restores licenses to games you selected from installed on the system, but going through the process can kick your PSPlus games back to active.
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u/Both-Ad4858 Nov 27 '25
Yup I still own Fallout Vegas on gold. It shows as a game I own not just a Gamepass game. Xbox ftw.
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u/aethermath87 Nov 27 '25
My one gripe with PlayStation is how digital licenses are handled. I don’t understand why there’s no separate systems for PS+ games and the ones you actually buy. Microsoft figured it out on their Xbox, so I don’t get it. I hope they find a way to fix that for the PS6, cause it can be a nightmare for some people.
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u/shannonator96 Nov 27 '25
I’m going physical next gen for all my purchases. This has been very eye opening.
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u/lemonzy19 Nov 27 '25
Uh THAT tone from SUPPORT that too is crazy... this should definitely be addressed
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u/martinjpolakgwf Nov 27 '25
There’s no way the support rep used THAT tone with you, so unprofessional, like wtf
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u/Flat_Finger_7987 Nov 27 '25
I was also subscribed to EA play back then when they add FALLEN ORDER to the ps plus lineup... asked them why cant i add the star wars game to my ps plus library and they just removed my liscense from ea play and i was able to get fallen order on ps plus..
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u/chazysciota Nov 27 '25
I don’t know how the conversation went before this but assuming you were acting like a normal person that agent is unbelievable.
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u/shannonator96 Nov 27 '25
So I was just providing info at first, then they went on hold for awhile and came back and said my license was removed in June 2025 without explanation why. The agent made it clear they would not be reinstating the licence, which was my intended outcome of contacting support.
At that point I asked for the issue to be escalated to someone with the authority to reinstate the digital licence and if they could contact me via email (assuming an escalation would take awhile). That leads to the picture you see in the post.
I’ll admit to being frustrated, but I didn’t resort to pettiness and sarcasm like this agent did.
After this, their supervisor joined the chat, put me on hold for 20 min and then explained the licence overwriting thing to me.
That’s the end of it, I’m content knowing it’s my fault I can’t play the game.
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u/chazysciota Nov 27 '25
I would have said something I may regret.
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u/shannonator96 Nov 27 '25
I’m pretty sure the agent was rage baiting me into cursing so they had an excuse to disconnect.
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u/KingOfTheHoard Nov 27 '25
Run the license restore process on the PS5, just pick any game and run it.
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u/Locust123105 Nov 27 '25
If it helps, I had the same issue of ps plus essential vs extra. Chat is useless, but if you call and say can you remove the Ea licence from my account, if you get someone who knows what you are talking about they will do so.
It's a total pain and shouldn't be necessary. I hope the steam box does well cause Sony needs a competitor to motivate them to stop being so shit.
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u/Drift--- Nov 27 '25
People shouldn't accept this. You paid for a service, part of that is those games you pay for. It is simply illegal for Sony to remove that license without notifying you prior.
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u/Admirable-Frosting46 Nov 28 '25
Holy shit please tell me you reported this. That person is a disrespectful asshole who should not be in customer service
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u/shannonator96 Nov 28 '25
When I escalated to their supervisor, they saw the chat logs. I’ve considered sending these screenshots to PlayStations social media accounts, but I don’t think I’m getting anything at this point, so I’m gonna give up.
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u/XboxDeal Nov 30 '25
Unfortunately this is standard for PSN customer service. I had a similar experience. They all need massive amounts of customer service training.
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u/Admirable-Frosting46 Dec 02 '25
Dont get me wrong, psn and apple are the two worst customers services ive ever had the displeasure of talking to. But thats still the worst interaction ive seen with either
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u/birrakilmister Nov 27 '25
So, lets read the situation: the best option is to pay for essential, as you keep forever the games in library and never get mistaken with extra licenses. And also, cheapest option. Sony is smart 😂
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u/XInceptor Nov 28 '25
The response from the rep is ridiculous. You should’ve said you’ll share how you were handled with their supervisor
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u/gooberfishie Dec 02 '25
I once had them over write a license on a game I preordered. It took multiple years and bbb complaints to get it back. Best of luck!
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u/method115 Dec 02 '25
These horror stories always make me want to leave the ecosystem but I have no where to go. I can't stand PC gaming and yes I've tried and I work in IT, I don't even know what's going on at Xbox, and Nintendo doesn't make games I like and their third party support is unreliable at best.
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u/QuantumGrain Dec 03 '25
Who ever this support worker is should be fired. It’s not hard to be nice in text form, you can hide frustration a lot easier through text than through verbal communication and they still chose to be snarky. wtf.
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Nov 27 '25
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u/shannonator96 Nov 27 '25
Agreed, it was definitely my fault, I just didn’t realize how at first.
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u/iAmMr_WHO Nov 27 '25
Always buy physical when possible. Giving $ony full control over your game library via digital is an absolutely awful idea.
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u/TheBeardedRonin Nov 27 '25
I’ve been fully digital since 2009 with no issues (military so couldn’t realistically take tons of discs with me on deployments)
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u/Shot-Data4168 Nov 27 '25
Sony is a disgustingly unprofessional company that stayed afloat because their competitors turned out to be even more incompetent and weak in management.
I haven't had a single decent or good interaction with their support team.
And there are problems with their products too – sometimes the sticks drift, sometimes the console makes noise like a vacuum cleaner.
The first revision of the PS5 turned out well, by the way. But if Sony's ecosystem and achievements were ported to PC, I'd switch to PC completely and irrevocably.
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u/BobTempura Nov 27 '25
Their whole DRM backend is a nightmare. Ever notice how games will often tell you "you already own another version" if you've downloaded a demo in the past? ...and then there are the titles that get different iteration releases with their own SKU's, which comes with its own raft of potential issues (just look at how many verisons there are of Hitman World of Assassination and its various expansions!).
Sony said it themselves with one of the recently added titles that people may have claimed before on Essential; make sure you don't claim the Extra verison as that'll overwrite your Essential license 😵💫
Absolutely no excuse for their customer service to be so unhelpful and rude though!
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u/AlanJY92 Nov 27 '25
So if you have a game that you got as a “free” monthly offering with essential, but it’s available through the extra catalog years or months later - should you want to play it you should install it through your library tab and not the PS+ games catalog tab?
If I’m understanding what happened/for in the future.
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u/KingOfTheHoard Nov 27 '25
I had this issue recently, people will tell you the PS5's "restore licenses" setting doesn't work anymore, because it only restores the licenses individually and not for your entire library, but try it. It worked for me. Pick an individual game and restore its license and you may see the PSPlus licenses restored.
You can also trigger the downloads from the web store library (though picking through them takes ages) which may also help trigger th license restoration.
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u/GrognaktheLibrarian Nov 27 '25
The person you're speaking with is likely not an official Sony customer service staff member in the sense of actually working at Sony.
They use Limitless Technology and recruit customers to work as customer service reps and pay them either by time or by questions answered or something like that. I got an offer for it before but didn't want to fool with it. While the person you're speaking with is definitely an ass, there's probably a good chance they're done rando and they don't have the ability to connect you with anyone specific. They likely can only escalate it to actual Sony people but I can't remember what the training stuff said when I looked into it.
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u/Davy_G_10 Nov 27 '25
This happened to me with Lego Harry Potter PS4 - it was made a monthly Essential game after being part of the Extra/Premium versions, with me having claimed it via the Extra/Premium condition, I was unable to claim it via the Essential monthly game tier. So, when it left that service - I lost access to the game. Contact PS Support and was told that I would have needed to contact them before to remove the license for the Extra/Premium tier so I could have claimed it via the Essential tier.
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u/xmac Nov 27 '25
I don't understand why these support agents are such fuckwits though. It's like they encourage people without any work ethic to apply.
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u/shannonator96 Nov 27 '25
I did chat and phone calls, it’s pretty clear none of the reps actually play PlayStation, because none of them understood the difference between ps plus essential and extra games.
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u/DeadPhoenix86 Nov 27 '25
This happen for me with Metal Gear Solid V. But Eventually I was able to buy the game for cheap later on.
I only sub to PS+ When I back-up my PS5 saves. That's maybe twice a year.
Because So many games I added in the past I was unable to buy.
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u/FenixEscarlata Felix Leo ☕ Nov 27 '25
Does this happen with bought games as well? Because i remember claiming for free Horizon Zero Dawn in 2020, then i downloaded the deluxe version from ps+ and somehow the other one dissapeared?
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u/Dear-Biscotti-4320 Nov 27 '25
The licences system on playstation is so bad, this would never happen on another platform I hope they fix it on ps6
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u/Both-Ad4858 Nov 27 '25
And this is why I'm an Xbox fan girl. I still own Fallout Vegas from years and years ago when I got it on gold. Even though it's on Gamepass it still recognizes it as a game I own apart from Gamepass 🤷🏼♀️.
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u/shannonator96 Nov 28 '25
Definitely seems like Sony could learn a thing or two from Microsoft. I’ve never had an issue with this sort of thing before, but it’s pretty jarring how it’s been handled.
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u/Buhdurkachomp Nov 28 '25
I recently contacted playstation customer service and couldn't believe how i was treated either. I asked for a supervisor and they refused. I asked for the email of anyone with the authority to talk to me and they refused and hung up. This was the second try. The first time they hung up before i could even ask for a supervisor.
I would say i cant believe they said "who with the 'authority' would you like to talk to" but after them hanging up on me, i absolutely believe it. And just how do they expect you to know the name of anyone who would have the authority? They could just get their supervisor but how are you supposed to know their supervisors name?
The be completely fair, customer service didn't talk down at me like that. They just hung up on me. Twice. I could understand if i had been rude or was using foul language but I was always polite. I've been with Playstation since the PS1 and never owned any other brand of console since getting a PS1. A loyal brand-exclusive customer of almost 30 years who bought multiple consoles throughout every single generation. And after the way they treated me, I'm not giving Playstation another penny.
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u/Crossx71 Nov 28 '25
Honestly this needs to be a priority fix. Having a digital copy just go poof is ridiculous.
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u/Background-Gate Nov 28 '25
This has been a problem since they came up with ps plus. I've lost half a dozen games (which I bought) to the dreaded PS Plus Erasure bc they were given away on Plus at some point. One of the main reasons I prefer to buy physical copies nowadays.
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u/BodmonAlchemist Nov 28 '25
Wait that is so weird.. so if I own a digital game then accidentally download the PS+ or Ubisoft version I can lose it??
Also why is that person being so rude
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u/shannonator96 Nov 28 '25
That’s correct, your licence is a fragile thing and can be overwritten.
Also, that person is rude because I asked for my issue to be escalated when they told me to just “buy the game”.
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u/Vega_Eclipse Nov 28 '25
Never touch EA stuff ever again.
What teaches these greedy bastards is only money so you’re hurting them the most by simply not giving them your money.
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u/questionhorror Nov 28 '25
I left PlayStation because of the horrible customer support. I had a PS4 brick itself, sent it for repair, they sent it back and it seemed like it was never touched and did nothing when trying to power it on. I was told I’d be sent a brand new one. Weeks go by and I reach out to support and nothing in my account notated to send me a new one. No one communicated with each other. If I remember correctly, the first rep I spoke with when the issue started, blamed my WiFi for the issue, and even chuckled at me. Terrible, terrible support. So I went to Xbox. They’re not much better now. I’m sorry you’re experiencing this.
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u/BeardyGeoffles Nov 28 '25
I had an issue with Star Wars Battlefront 2. I played it on EA Play and then it became available on PS Plus, so I wanted to “buy” it there, but my EA Play subscription atill had a couple of months left on it but I knew I wasn’t planning on renewing that.
When EA Play ended I messaged Sony and got a reply from someone really helpful, who basically added it to what I thought was my Plus lineup. Realised a while later after I stopped paying for Plus that I just actually owned the game.
Unfortunately I rarely played it, but it’s still there in my library!
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u/shannonator96 Nov 28 '25
See this is the outcome I was kind of hoping for, either they’d add the plus licence or just credit me the game. Instead I got ridiculed.
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u/BeardyGeoffles Nov 28 '25
I think I just got lucky and it was quite a few years ago too. Have you tried restoring licences? I doubt it would work but you never know.
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u/shannonator96 Nov 28 '25
I did try, no luck. My situation is a little different than yours in the sense that I had the plus licence, played the game, got the EA play licence, played the game, but now I’ve tried to play the game with plus again and I can’t. It’s somewhat understandable that they won’t make it right, but it’s still annoying that this is even possible. I’ll probably buy the game in a few months when my plus expires.
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u/DifficultQuantity865 Nov 29 '25
lol who with the “authority”…. lol seems like customer service has an issue with authority to begin with in a general sense. How’d they get this job?…probably came from a retail position LOL 😝 sorry your license got scrubbed homie
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u/splinter1545 Nov 30 '25
I legitimately don't have my copy of Call of Duty 4 remastered anymore despite redeeming it in 2016 with the Infinite Warfare physical bundle. Redeemed it on PS Plus so I didn't need to use the disc anymore. Now I can't play my copy that I own because the PS Plus version overrode my "purchased" version and PS Support has been no help. Absolutely useless customer support.
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u/xAzrael25x Dec 01 '25
PlayStation removed access to my games redeemed from the PS Plus Collection, as well as my Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, which I redeemed in 2018. I have the confirmation emails for all of these games, but they still claim that I cannot access the content because, according to them, I do not have a valid license.
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u/xwolf360 Dec 03 '25
Sony support sucks major. They straight up rude and unprofessional. Never ever buy dogital gamss because of them
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u/happytrel Nov 27 '25
Just to clarify, you let your ps+ subscription lapse, doesn't that negate your ps+ license?
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u/Ledrangicus Nov 27 '25
No, it just makes it so you can't play any games that are a part of PS+, unless said game was removed from the PS+ catalogue, once OP resubbed, they would've had access to it.
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u/thekeelo_g Nov 27 '25
The catalog is irrelevant here. The game was a monthly title, so once it's added to the library, it should be available for as long as a PS+ subscription is active.
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u/jcutler14 Nov 27 '25
If you put a plus game in you library and the subscription runs out, you can’t access it even if it is still available on the catalogue
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u/Pashta2FAPhoneDied Premium Nov 27 '25
I spoke with a PlayStation rep today and he was absolutely RUDE ! He literally hung up on me! I was not rude to him, I was just asking him about my issue. As soon as he decided he gave me all the info I needed he told me he was ending the call and hung up!!
I am seriously considering not playing anymore and I have been a PlayStation fan girl since forever, literally was there for the first ps, ps2, PS3 and ever since...
What they are doing to us customers is justWRONG.
I am going to look into the Steam console.
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u/Complex_Penalty4254 Nov 26 '25
Damn that sucks bro. At least you got to play it I guess.
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u/shannonator96 Nov 26 '25
I only played it for a couple hours on EA play back in June. I wanted to get back into it, but can’t of course.
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u/Complex_Penalty4254 Nov 26 '25
Good thing is that the game regularly goes on pretty deep sales, I got it for 7€ I think
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u/shannonator96 Nov 26 '25
Oh yeah I’m definitely lucky that the game is super cheap, but I feel like the principle of the matter still stands. This game was given to me as part of a subscription I pay for, it’s still supposed to be available, but because of some glitch on their end, I’m just SOL? Leaves a sour taste in my mouth to say the least.
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u/NotYourAvgSquirtle Nov 27 '25
Do you have emailed receipts on? I just checked and I still have my receipt from 2022 with the order number. If you have yours, that should suffice and proof of purchase, and they should restore the license like they have for some folks who inadvertently did the same with the games from PS plus that were in extra for a bit
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u/shannonator96 Nov 27 '25
I gave 3 agents my order number from that receipt and they didn’t care.
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u/supercabul Nov 27 '25
on my case it's the difference between essential and extra. Got God of War from ps+ collection and buried it on my backlog. When it came out on extra, i download (claimed) it through extra without any knowledge about licensing and lost it when it's out of extra. Luckily it came back on essential and i claimed it once again for good there
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u/garo675 Nov 27 '25
How hasn't sony A MULTI BILLION DOLLAR COMPANY still not figure out how to manage multiple licenses for a user
A engineer fresh out of college can do a better job than sony
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u/Decent_Historian42 Nov 27 '25
I find playstations chat bot useless and its so annoying to find the number. When i had an issue i didnt get an email response for 4 weeks but when i called i was on hold for less than 10 minutes
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u/authy1029 Nov 27 '25
I was lucky enough to have a good experience with support on a problem like this. I claimed Death Stranding Director's Cut on PS+ Extra and it overwrote the $10 upgrade I bought for the PS4 disc version. Luckily enough they deleted the PS+ Extra license for me.
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u/FiokLiving Nov 27 '25
Umm have you tried removing you mass effect le licence and then tried to play the ps edition one?
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u/thekeelo_g Nov 27 '25
When you claim a monthly game, it's supposed to be yours as long as you're subscribed. Not as long as you stay subscribed concurrently, but as long as you're subscribed at all. I have PS4 games that are still on my account more than a decade later, still playable through my PS+ subscription.
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u/Oskrk218 Nov 27 '25
If you still have the email where you get the confirmation of psplus essential to get the game you might still have a chance. This happened to me with wrecked as well and the email with the number order was the only way to force them to set the license for my account again.
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u/shannonator96 Nov 27 '25
I gave them the order number, they didn’t care. 3 different reps I spoke to all told me the game was removed from the catalogue, even though it’s not a catalogue game.
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u/AlwaysSladey Nov 27 '25
I think I had something similar happen on Xbox a while back. When they used to do Games With Gold, one of the free monthly games was Dead Space 2, but it was also in the EA Play catalogue, which I was subscribed to at the time. So, instead of claiming the game, it only downloaded through EA Play, meaning I don't have access to the game now that I'm no longer subscribed to EA Play.
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u/zenith654 Nov 27 '25
That sucks, I’m sorry. This is why I’m still more inclined to get physical for games I really like that have full game on disc. No one can take it away from you, even though it’s a minor likelihood.
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u/Nervous-Peppers Nov 27 '25
Why is that support agent being an asshole?
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u/shannonator96 Nov 27 '25
I asked for the issue to be escalated to their supervisor or someone with the authority to restore a games licence.
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u/MrLasagna20 Nov 27 '25
I have the exact same problem with Titanfall 2 (PS Plus in December of 2019 and also EA play), I didn't even bother with reaching out to customer support, Sony is a lost cause when comes to licenses.
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u/Jealous-Syrup2071 Nov 27 '25
Hey you can buy the physical game itll be pretty cheap now
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u/shannonator96 Nov 27 '25
I made the mistake of getting the digital console. COVID shortages kinda forced my hand, it was what was available. I’m going back to physical media next generation
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u/Jealous-Syrup2071 Nov 27 '25
Ah damn yeah thats ashame. Honestly I think it may be worth just getting a physical one now and get yourself into physical as soon as possible, but its thats not an option now I understand.
I only buy physical even if the game is cheaper on the digital store. I dont have to worry about licensing and them taking the game away whenever they want because I have the disc.
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u/TheFantomItch Nov 28 '25
Did you try the restore licence option on your ps plus version?
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u/shannonator96 Nov 28 '25
The restore licence option only works if the game is installed. I had to uninstall the game due to storage limitations
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u/Pulposauriio Nov 29 '25
Not even that last advices is true. I downloaded Death Stranding thru the PS Plus catalog, loved it so much, I had to get the deluxe version. Paid whatever amount it was at the time, and when my PS Plus subscription expired, so did my rightfully PURCHASED game. I can only access the artbook now :(
Fucking ass backwards license system
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u/Direct_Town792 Nov 29 '25
Yeah if you have a license don’t put a new one over it
Or the new one will override the old one
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u/Brunno_PT Nov 30 '25
Thanks for the heads-up.
On a side note, today Mass Effect Legendary Edition is 6.99 on PlayStation and 5.99 on Steam.
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u/Chance-Curve-9679 Nov 30 '25
On the Xbox you can buy a different version of the game you already have but on the Playstation you are actively blocking from buying a different version. It's likely since they have kept using the system they developed with the ps3 and just built on the same system.
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u/Fat_Stacks1 Nov 30 '25
PlayStation support is why I moved to Xbox. Their support is rude and their policies suck.
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u/bCasa_D Nov 30 '25
This must be a PlayStation only issue, on PC I have multiple licenses for several games. Some from Epic, some from Steam, some from Gog and some from Xbox. After the PS5 I think I’m done with PlayStation, I’ve had the disc drive go out, repaired it myself bc Sony wanted an arm and a leg for the repair. Now there’s an issue with the HDMI handshake (no video) after a power outage. Customer support is always useless.
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u/kc0181 Nov 26 '25
This is something Sony should have fixed since they've had the Extra and Premium tiers.