Sony revamped PS Plus two years ago, but license issues continue to plague the service to this day. With no sign of a resolution in sight, members often find themselves locked out of buying and playing games, leaving them at the mercy of support agents who don’t necessarily know how to help.
The most common PS Plus license issues remain unresolved
Two of the most common — and annoying — PS Plus license issues revolve around PSN “overriding” existing game licenses and simply not recognizing licenses properly.
In case of the former, players who redeem monthly games from the Essential catalog and then download them later down the line from the PS Plus Extra/Premium catalogs, find themselves locked out of said games for good. Essential games are yours to keep but Extra/Premium games are not. If you re-download a game from Extra/Premium that you previously claimed via Essential, PSN will override your license. Once those games leave Extra/Premium, you can’t play them again unless you purchase them.
The second most common issue is PSN not recognizing game licenses/versions properly. Players who claim a game’s base version from PS Plus are often locked out of purchasing a different version of the same game because the system thinks players already own the product. For instance, if you want to purchase the GOTY/Ultimate edition of a game whose base version you previously claimed via PS Plus, you won’t be able to purchase it even if you want to.
Some players have had luck with PS Support revoking licenses, but you have to be lucky to get an agent who understands the assignment. Restoring licenses, unfortunately, does not resolve the issues.
