Recently, Sony has increased the price of its PlayStation 5 and PlayStation Portal series of video game consoles, which has seen the PlayStation 5 Pro model increase to RM3999 for the local market.
But did you know that there is another controversy that has been going viral on social media platforms regarding the console's games? The issue started with a question to the PlayStation Support chatbot about the 30-day DRM period for new digital video games purchased through the PlayStation Store.
According to the PlayStation Store chatbot, this 30-day DRM is for digital games purchased after March 2026, where this DRM will check whether the game console that has the game is active online or not.
Otherwise, the game's license will be deactivated after the 30-day period, and the console will need to go online to reactivate the license before it can be played again.
Technically, the bot's statement can be read as an "official statement" from Sony about how the new DRM works, and people on social media can be seen to be unhappy with the matter.
There are also parties that say that this is a vulnerability issue in the DRM system or that they have changed the type of DRM used for their latest digital games.
This seems to be a hot topic of conversation for several days, and strangely, Sony has not yet given any update on this matter. However, there are several parties that have researched this issue, and have found that the DRM used by Sony is still the same DRM, but with some details that have been changed.
The explanation given is that for digital games purchased before March 2026, the DRM previously showed the code 7F FF FF FF FF FF FF FF which simply says that this game has no expiration after the first verification.
For games purchased after March 2026, a "date code" will be shown that indicates 30 days before expiration. After digging into the details, it seems that this DRM is used to ensure that the game has not been downloaded and played within the next 14 days, which is the return period for purchased PlayStation 5 digital games.
This DRM software is not new, as the same technique is used for free games offered through PlayStation Plus subscriptions, where after the subscription period has expired and is not renewed, your console will issue a notice to renew your subscription before you can continue playing the game.
In my opinion, the issue here is that Sony is taking too long to clarify this DRM issue. The current misconception is that users' PlayStation 5 consoles need to be connected to the internet every 30 days to "update" the digital license on the game before it can be played, but the expectation is that this may only be used for the purpose of determining the return period for the game.
At the time of publishing, Sony has yet to issue any official statement on this matter, and my expectation is that Sony will not answer users' questions about it even if they know what is actually happening. They will also likely improve the PlayStation Store chat bot responses, but this will also likely take time.
