[Taku]

Next month Sony will remove hundreds of purchased movies and shows from user libraries
You will own nothing, and you will be happy
By Cal Jeffrey | July 8, 2022 at 2:11 PM



A hot potato: Although Sony stopped selling movies and TV shows on the PlayStation Store over a year ago, customers could still watch content they had already purchased. However, now that seems to be changing.

According to notifications placed on the German and Austrian versions of the PlayStation website, Sony is removing hundreds of titles from its servers, so even those that have bought the movies and shows will no longer have access to them. On August 31, Austrian customers are losing 137 titles, and Germany is losing a whopping 317, including Apocalypse Now, John Wick, Robocop, and the entire Saw series.

Sony said it has to remove the content "due to [its] evolving licensing agreements with content providers." To be specific, anything distributed by Studio Canal is getting canned. More likely than not, Sony just decided to discontinue paying licensing fees as it is probably moving to sunset movie distribution. This summation stems from the fact that the company ceased selling content in March of last year.



Streaming content providers often remove content over time for various reasons, ranging from licensing issues to making room for newer shows. Subscribers to these services have accepted this since it's a monthly subscription to continuous VOD programming. However, in this case, users purchased the content digitally with the understanding that they could watch it whenever they pleased.

Sony doesn't mention whether or not it will issue refunds for items taken from users' libraries. If it doesn't, there is likely to be severe blowback. To some, removing purchased content might feel like a bait and switch — and in all practical terms, it is — but Sony's service agreement likely indemnifies it from legal action in instances like this. It would be unusual if the lawyers of one of the most prominent players in the entertainment industry overlooked such a contingency. It just goes to show that you should always read the fine print.

Story via Techspot.com

[Arno12]

Wow, this sucks.....luckily I never owned a playstation.

[Miles]

The age of DLC in every aspect; games, movies, etc.

[Taku]

Soon we won't actually OWN anything. Not even our PCs. We already don't own our smart phones (I do because I bought mine outright, but most people lease them).

[trekchu]

And this is why I buy movies physical whenever I can. I always hated the terms and conditions on that part of the store so I never used it, but given how often distribution rights shift especially for movies, this isn't the least bit surprising.

[Taku]

I just sail the high seas if I want to see a movie. Unless I actually own the physical disk, then I download the digital version directly from the source. I do no. . . NOT. . . want "cloud-based" entertainment. The Cloud is just marketing speak for "someone else's computer" and can be turned off at any time.

And yes, I get the irony of saying I don't like cloud-based entertainment on a website dedicated partially to cloud-based entertainment.

[Bar'ol]

Is that even legal? Oh geeze, hopefully steam doesnt get any ideas from this.

[Bridger]

And that is the reason why I buy physical media.

[Taku]

Is that even legal? Oh geeze, hopefully steam doesnt get any ideas from this.

"Always read the fine print."

When STO finally dies, all the virtual stuff that [some of us] have spent money on is gone. No refunds.

[Heyallo]

"Always read the fine print."

When STO finally dies, all the virtual stuff that [some of us] have spent money on is gone. No refunds.

if we enjoyed it, it's money well spent though =)

[Groxvalhan]

Glad i never had a playstation.
I buy movies @Amazon, but its clear the money is burned and i own nothing, so it has to be an okay price when seeing the film twice.

Hell for Marvels Thor - Love and Thunder i burned 40 Bucks for 2 persons with popcorn+Cola last weekend
...and i feel it was worth it, even if i don't own the movie.
There are very few movies I like that much, that i buy them physically.

[WhiteMountain65]

Wow, this sucks.....luckily I never owned a playstation.

WHAT HE SAID! On both counts!

[MonsterOmen]

Literally why I don't buy digital media. This blows a lot

[Three of Seven]

Is that even legal? Oh geeze, hopefully steam doesnt get any ideas from this.

To be fair, Steam only ever removes the storefront, and option to buy. There are games that can still be downloaded from Steam that you can't buy on Steam anymore due to a variety of issues.

But yeah, this is why I don't buy digital films that I can't backup, if I buy it, I want to be able to store it, maybe the EU will get involved.

[T'vel]

Is that even legal? Oh geeze, hopefully steam doesnt get any ideas from this.

Sadly it is legal. I don't think Steam will do this though.