Once they're gone, they're gone

We recently reported on a couple of games featured in PS Plus Extra and PS Plus Premium that will be leaving the service fairly soon. This caused a little confusion, as many believed that the huge libraries of games in the new tiers would be accessible forever, so long as you stay subscribed and download them to your PS5 or PS4. To be perfectly clear, that is not the case.

If a game is removed from PS Plus Extra or Premium, it will no longer be available to play — even if you've claimed it.

Sony did confirm this detail in its PS Blog guide to the new PS Plus, making the following statement: "Similar to PlayStation Now, if the content is no longer offered on PlayStation Plus, you won’t be able to access the titles when they leave the service".

As it says, PS Now worked on the same basis. Once a game was taken out of the service, it became inaccessible even to those who had streamed or downloaded it. It's the exact same for PS Plus Extra and Premium.

However, PS Plus Essential's monthly games, as well as titles in the PS Plus Collection, will remain accessible when they cycle out of the service, as long as you've added them to your library.

If you're still not sure how things stack up, we'd recommend keeping tabs on our list of All PS Plus Games. This page contains all the information you need about every game on all tiers, including when they join and any upcoming expiry dates. There's also more info about All Three PS Plus Tiers Explained through the link.

Having grown up alongside PlayStation, Stephen has developed an eclectic taste in video games and a wide knowledge of the medium, from small indie gems to the biggest AAA blockbusters. Ever hopeful that the Burnout series makes a miraculous return.

Will I keep the PS1 titles I've claimed that I already bought? Why is this service so confusing and crap?

This was fairly clear to me, but I can see why people might be confused because of the “PS Plus” label probably led them to believe all the tiers worked like the old service, ie the current “Essential” games.

The rotating aspect of the two higher tiers is one of the frustrating things about the new service. Ah well… you can’t have your cake and eat it too.

I think that's both a commentary on how little anyone ever paid attention to Now, as well as how the PS anti subscription niche has had their blinders on since 2006 with how Netflix and everything else works 😂

So basically like gamepass. Wonder if Sony will give a 20 percent discount like Ms do. Probably not

It might also be confusing because of what it says on the PlayStation store on people's consoles.

1. Browse the game catalogue with hundreds of popular games. 2. Download the games of your choice to your console 3. Enjoy access to the games as long as your subscription is still active

This specific wording makes it seem like the ones that are currently downloaded you keep access to. Which is a fair-ish compromise. No way anyone was keeping all the games, but I'd say this section of advertising right before you click pay is probably kind of misleading for people.

Still a great service (I feel I've got my £30 upgrades worth already, just by playing the first few hours of Ghost of Tsushima and waiting on Stray next month) 😁🐱

As long as we get notifications on when stuff we have claimed is leaving, it's fine. And should be no complaints from me.

😆😆😆😆😆 These people are the reasons we have warnings like "hot coffee, hot" or "remove foil wrapping before putting poptart in microwave or toaster".

And articles like this. Did people really think they were getting 700+ games to keep, for the duration of a sub, for $15-20 a month?

@Leighdegree I think in this case if the game you invested your time into disappears just get it on disc so you can continue where you left off, all this service is, is a glorified rental, trial demo service at best but it's still worth it to play games you don't want to pay full price for.

@Leighdegree yes that's an annoying aspect of game pass and the preceding ps now as well. Fair warning, rockstar is infamously the only publisher to routinely use game pass as nothing but a free play days type demo service where they put rtr2 or GTA up there for only a few weeks, then take it down. No other publisher does that, most do 6-24 month blocks. Sony has a close rockstar relationship so maybe it'll last longer here, but rockstar does abuse the spirit of game pass and I assume they will with plus as well. Almost any other publisher is safe for months at least though.

This is why it would be good for games to have a removal date, as soon as it is known to Sony and the Publisher. Gamepass could do with that too.

Will they be automatically removed from people libraries aswell so they don't get cluttered up with a bunch of games you can't play

I haven’t read the PS Blog guide i can understand if Sony removes third party games and then replace some in the next month/months but what about Sony Classic First Party Games will they remove and replace those too??.

PS plus premium and extra are essentially the replacement to NOW so for those of us that were subscribed this is nothing new. Sony is pretty terrible when it comes to communication lately though so I see why people are upset.

@Would_you_kindly If they handle this like they did NOW all they'll do is add a little lock icon to the game and won't let you start it. You'll have to delete each expired game manually if you want them off your home screen.

This was always 100% clear to me, so I don't mind.

@Leighdegree this is the reason why I didn't like Game Pass...but I'm ok with Gold & the previous Plus (now Plus Essentials)...

With Game Pass (and now Plus Extra & Premium)...you lose the ability to play at your own pace...(especially when bigger open world games are put in these services)

Self explanatory they rotate and if your plus expires you cannot play the games instead they remove them. They will just lock as you don't legally own them as it's a subscription

@NEStalgia I was only thinking the other day I'm sure the Red dead redemption 2 had been on the PS Now service for a long way before this new tier system, I honestly thought it had left and came back but never noticed if it had or not as I stopped subbing to Now a while ago.

Anyone who wasn't aware of this already shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a console/ computer. They should be tucked up safe and sound inside their padded cell

The new tiers are essentially like Netflix but for games. Netflix don't allow you to keep your Movies or TV series once you've watched them

Why is that a surprise for anyone? Does Netflix let you keep the movies you watch? Or does Gamepass lets you keep the games you play without actually buying them?

I figured this was the case and didn’t really think it’d be otherwise. But it makes games like Red Dead 2 harder for me to try because it is a big commitment of time (I’ve heard). I’m not going to solely play one game with the sub so it makes me unlikely to try a large game that’s presence is fleeting. Hopefully RDR2 goes on sale below $20 eventually. I’ve probably missed the sales if it has whoops.

They honestly should have just expanded PS Now and included it with Plus. They pretty much just have anyway in the most confused way possible.

So it works exactly the same as Game Pass. As expected. I didn’t expect them to hand me thousands of dollars worth of games for the price of a subscription.

@HeeHo They would have had to increase the price of Plus then, which would have angered the people who aren’t interested in PS Now. Better to have it as an optional thing.

Well this isn’t strictly true as I have a few free monthly games which I claimed, such as WWE 2K Battlegrounds for example, which are no longer accessible. Go figure.

@Quintumply Will Sony remove any PSOne Classics or PSP Classics from our libraries that we actually purchased though? If so I'm fairly certain they'd be breaking some laws since in most countries it is required that purchased games not be taken from consumers and stay in their download library so long as the digital storefront for said console is still online. 🤔

Hahaha....the beauty of digital only media and why I will never touch it.

@PhhhCough There will be a lot of people out there who have never even heard of Game Pass so this whole thing is new to them. It does get quite confusing with the different tiers.

In itself not a great surprise nor any different to when you'd be locked out of ps plus freebies if you let your subscription lspse. Albeit more recent PS Plus releases give you a plus version & a separate sku to buy on psn if you liked/ preferred to buy it outright.

They best have lengthy agreements for these games. Worried as some have already been removed. We actually need a chance to play them in their entirety.

@TowaHerschel7 no i think we're fine to keep the games we actually purchase, and not just use through the service itself. Kind of like how if you bought PS1 classics years ago on PS3 or PSP, they're available to download for free on PS5 (well, once they've been included an made available on there I mean). But yeah actual purchases are separate, just as if you bought the game from the ps store normally. (Oh and if Sony make me a liar, then yeah they'll definitely be breaking some laws!) 😂

I honestly find it baffling that there are people out there who thought they could just lay down £80/£100 a year and they would get access to an ever expanding list of games forever more.

Boggles the mind so it does.

Would be nice however if you got a bit off it if you choose to then purchase the game, much like you get with GP.

@TowaHerschel7 If you’ve actually bought anything you will be able to keep it.

@OneWingedAngel In all fairness, you can watch a movie in less than 2 hours and get the whole experience. Not the same with games that may take months to beat.

Love all the people coming out with comments like "people who were confused about this should be put in padded cells." As usual, these people only read the misleading headline and not the article.

It's perfectly reasonable for someone to expect the higher tiers of PS+ to work in the same way that PS+ has worked historically (you put a game in your library, it's yours to play as long as you're subscribed). The fact that it doesn't just goes to show how lazy of a service this is, it's literally just PS Now tacked on with a few extra games. And the fact that the service has now been given the PS+ label is what's causing the confusion. Sony doing a stellar job as usual.

It makes no difference to me. I still buy disks. I only subscribe to Essential for (mainly), the added storage and free monthly games to use as a trial run of a game I might be unsure of. There's also online multiplayer, but I find more and more games I am gravitating towards, are singleplayer games.

This isn't surprising, but still would've been a good way to compete with Microsoft by offering them forever (once added to library and assuming you maintain subscription), when Gamepass doesn't. Sony missed a trick there.

What is important then is that they are fully transparent about when games are expiring. One of the many irritating aspects about Netflix is that they often just remove films without any warning. Does anyone know where one can see when games are expiring in advance?

Wasn't expected otherwise as I knew how PS Now worked and even Gamepass is the same. I will admit trying to sort through my library of games can be confusing though as some games you claim with the monthly games don't appear under the PS Plus games but your regular library. They have needed to organise that better for years.

i foresee lots of cancellations 🤣😂

just give us dates already sony!

I don't need hundreds of games i didn't ask for with expiration dates. I buy a few i'm really interested in, play it to death and keep them forever. It's only logic to me.

Well, obviously. Has nobody used a subscription service like Now, Gamepass, or even Netflix? Does nobody know what value games have? Anyone who questioned this should just hold their hands up and say, “yep, I was just too busy to engage my brain when I questioned this”

Um. This was super super super super obvious.

Gamepass is like that. Netflix, Disney Plus, Amazon Prime are like that. It's why I prefer ps plus essential games more. Rather get 2-3 good games forever as long as I'm subbed.

This launch was nothing but clown shoes.

So a subscription based service is working like a standard subscription based service model. Shocker!

It's basically just a sh*t psnow let's be honest lads

@CapGod gamepass keeps the games on for much longer & mist exclusives ate permanently on there

I cant believe anyine would think differently? PS now has always worked like this, as does gamepass. Due to poor communication, im not sure whats different or if anything has changed, but ps now usually tells you how long the game is available for, so you know before download, and I assume it will stay that way. Thats better than game pass where I often get 2 weeks notice... First party titles tend to stay for ages....

@HeeHo not really confusing though is it? 😏

@Ryany Thats simply not true at all. Have you actually used both services, because it seems to clear to me you dont have any experience?

So in short, people thought this was an expansion of PS plus, and not PS Now.

I mean, I suppose the marketing isn't really that clear. 50 million PS Plus users vs 3 million PS Now users. And PS Plus is now PS Essential, Extra, and Premium.

And I can't be suprised either. Poor marketing is what caused people to think the Wii U was a controller for the Wii, and killed the console.

@Titntin I've got the premium one it reminds me of psnow idiot about I don't have any experience i got it day one. It's nothing on gamepass. I don't like saying that because I have a ps5 not an xbox but I'm just being honest. It needs more day one games maybe not big sony ones but games like shredder's revenge, ect

It was clear that some games will be removed. But that short after launch? To me this sounds as if Sony wanted to have a great launch lineup to sell 1-year memberships. Scam?

In summer gaming is not my top prio, and I probably would need more than three month for Red Dead Redemption… in the end the removal means that PS Plus Extra is gambling.

@Ryany ps now has been running for many years. If you've just signed up now, for the revamp, then how can you claim to know how long games stay for unless you have a crystal ball? Your making stuff up, and ive yet to see you make a post that doesnt dis ps and big up game pass - not strictly truelol, but its a common theme from you. You have zero knowledge of either.

@HeeHo that's exactly what the new PS+ is though.

@Titntin go away you nerd

Add that to the list of reasons why taking a simple option of PS+ and/or PS Now subscription options, and changing into a 3 tier PS+ mess wasn't the best idea. Why pay £50/yr for PS Now, when instead you can get some of those games for £84/yr or all for £100/yr. Great for consumers...

They release the 'PS Classic' with a bunch of PAL games, get rinsed by both the press and fans for it, but then don't learn their lesson and include PAL games on the £100/yr service? What a botch job. Then they rush out a "NTSC games are coming soon" when it launches in the UK/EU, but no timeline. Be sure to keep giving Sony money in the meantime though, for the poorer PAL versions.

Yeah, because the exclusives sony make are clearly more expensive than whatever xbox makes.

You don't need a service. Period.

All you need are good games to justify choosing a console over the other. That's all what matters. Services have brainwashed a lot of people and soon they'll get the spiky end of being cheap. Halo Infinite is not finished, is not next gen at all, and now they're implementing a new mtx system.

Did you watch last xbox, I mean gamepass showcase this last june?

It's funny how xbox users are their own doom for being cheap.

@StuartGipp YES! dont know what sony are doing. some games it says, "purchased" and other games it says "+ in library" what is the difference?? does it mean if it says purchased i own it so long i have ps plus and + in library they can remove it.

@Ravix if you scroll at the bottom, there is a section of games that are leaving soon. now it is shadow warrior 3 and Syberia

@OneWingedAngel on the ps plus extra page, it says that you have the games as long as you are subscriber. they are lying.

@Would_you_kindly they will not be removed. because i have games from PS Now in my games library that sony has now taken away. but its still in my library. its like game trails or beta. they dont get removed even if that trail has gone out or that beta event is finished.

@IMustardMitt the sad thing is that we dont own our games even if we buy them on discs. every game has a one day patch, or they need a online connection. if playstation stop there servers for good. how do we play anything, even games on disc. i can play it on disc but it will be a crappy version of that game.

I did not know that.

I bought rainbow moon last night so will give that a crack.

Well, they DO spam the users inboxes with "thank you for your purchase" emails.

It's fine, still a cheaper alternative than buying each game and once a game you've been playing goes away, you can always just wait for a sale to get it.

@Leighdegree not too bad then. Definitely a better deal than they do with gp, I'm sure due to the relationship with Sony.

They are removing games so soon after the relaunch of the service? That seems weird to me.

So it's basically the same as XBOX GamePass.

I don't know who gets confused by that? People who want to moan about everything Sony do these days?

@OneWingedAngel I don't think you get emails saying thankyou for your purchase from Netflix or gamepass lol

One of the key reasons I will NEVER pay a subscription to stream games. I buy what I want so I can keep it and play it when it's convenient for me, not at the mercy of anyone who can pull the plug on some other end. To each their own, but subscriptions are a Trojan Horse from a business angle, folks; it's all about CONTROL and eliminating what little is left of basic consumer rights and ownership.

Most of the games they”pull” have been there for at least 3 months. Example- psnow had gta5 on there for around 3 months, then they brought in some new. Aaa game,most of the smaller games on psnow. Never changed . Believe me you will be complaining soon about that. I can’t believe. People really thought that they “ keep” the games . My only. Complaint is moo ost of the big titles they offer have been played by almost everyone. God of war, uncharted, ratchet, are the main reason I bought a PS4 Still totally worth it to play the ones. I would probably not buy! I loved dark trilogy games and I had never even heard about them

@Leighdegree - Hi Leigh, totally agree, there are a stack of games on the 2x higher tiers that make you think even if I play just a couple of AAA Releases (ie Spiderman & Ghosts of Tsushima) then I have Value for Money. - However, the fear of a partially completed game disappearing from the catalogue tends to make you think - by the time I get round to playing Spiderman or Ghosts of Tsushima I could buy in a Sony Sale or elsewhere for a reduced rate, but it is mine. - plus, if you have played a game that then releases DLC, but the Main Game is no longer in the Catalogue where do you stand ....? - at least if you own a Physical or Digital Copy there is No Problem - At the moment I shall stick with my Basic PS Plus, as I already have a Back-log of decent games to venture into

@thefourfoldroot1 Nope they dont the free on Gamepass and PS Plus tiers devalues the games.

@Mayhemlikeme A lot of these games are in the below €20 range so why put yourself through it that you have to rush them.

What’s so hard to comprehend? Unlike the monthly plus games, here the library is provided as a subscription. Content will be added and taken out over time depending on the agreement with the different publishers. If something is taken out, you cannot access it anymore unless you buy it or Sony brings it back at a future date. No different than GamePass, or even Netflix or Spotify!

@Flaming_Kaiser I do own a lot of the big games. Most of those smaller titles I have not even heard of. Plus, where I live the stores only seem to carry aaa games.

@Mayhemlikeme I have to be fair i have to look on the internet for the smaller weirder stuff playasia and tons of other sites NISA, Iffy, Limited Run Games, Special Reserve. I am 8 bit does not except PayPal for some reason so i tend to leave it alone because i cant pay there im not getting a creditcard for one sites 95% of the sites have several options. The Playstation Hits label those games are €20 or lower a lot of the times.

I understood that the service will operates like this and this one of my concerns against it. It would be great if Sony allows players to keep the licence of games that were downloaded and played though.

I think I may own a total of 5 digital games. I'd rather get the disc because I know it's my game.

Just put my nba 2k22 up for trade, hope that's on there for a while at least.

This is absolutely disgusting, shocking behaviour from Sony. I should be allowed to play any game they offer, for free, FOREVER. The fact that they are rationing their games is awful and the other fact that they haven't made the entire PlayStation back catalogue available for nothing, shows just how out of touch they are. Read the room Sony. Stop trying to monetise gaming by charging a price for things you want us to buy and then charging other prices for other things that are part of a subscription. This is totally Jim's fault.

@CapGod I agree that subscriptions will come home to roost. Ive Already noticed a degradation, AAA is arguably better than ever but those mid tier games are slowly being replaced by garbage, let's be honest.

However I had a great time when I decided to give ps now a whirl and have played a ridiculous amount of games on Gamepass. So in the short term I'm all good and if the rubbish keeps building. We have the prior 40 years of games to enjoy.

@Ravix If you think that's what it means, you need to work on your reading comprehension.

@MFTWrecks nice to know that the internet is still full of lovely friendly people who aren't at all looking to make themselves feel superior, possibly to make up for some lack of fulfillment elsewhere

The fact that it is labelled as steps 1,2,3 on the console suggests that after the second step of "downloading the games of your choice" the 3rd step is enjoying access to those games whilst subscribed.

Sony marketing knows what it is doing with this and they have made it slightly opaque on purpose. And because it isn't the actual terms they can do that. If it were more customer friendly it might read "Enjoy Access to the entire Game Catalogue for the length of your subscription. Download and play the games of your choice whilst available"

Of course some people may think they are entitled to all the games forever, which is wrong, and it's great value as it is, but the marketing around it could be a bit more consumer friendly to avoid adding to the confusion that people have created for themselves by thinking it's just a really big upgrade to how ps plus worked (also made opaque by Sony by using the old claim feature, when all you need to do is download the titles. You don't need to claim anything, you either download and play it, or you don't, if you claim it and it's removed from the service it's not claimed, so why even have that terminology on there?

Nice to be attacked for pointing out how a big corporation and the marketing department can make things misleading for people though. When really they don't have to, because the service is great anyway.

"3. Enjoy access to the games as long as your subscription is still active"

Read that again. Slowly. Come back to us when you're done.

@MFTWrecks yes, it's the "3" I'm mentioning and what it does to the context of "the games".

Clearly. Because 3 follows on from 2 and is not it's own separate entity. 2 is download "the games" 3 is access "the games" as long as you are subscribed. Thus different meaning can be construed from the words. I.e have access to "the games that have been downloaded, as long as your subscription is still active", instead of have access to the "the games currently listed in the game catalogue as long as your subscription is still active"

Obviously if you look at things in isolation the meaning can change.

You are fully aware of the concept of context, and the isolation of words, as most people who quote parts of responses on the internet to argue a point to feel superior do.

I never bothered with ps now and im glad i chose to not upgrade to extra or premium. Its common sense that the top two tiers would work like ps now if essentials its ps+ before the merging of both services it seems like the two highest tiers is a rip off

@StuartGipp because it's sony, and no I'm not a massive xbox fan boy, but sony have really changed a lot over the years, that said xbox have too... But for tge better, Phil Spencer is the messiah of modern gaming.

Every single subscription service works exactly like this, why would anyone think otherwise? Netflix, Prime, Disney+ remove a movie/show you can't watch it, Gamespass removes a game you can't play it. It's very simple.....

Is this a serious article or just one with a wink? Please let it be the last.

@Crabbitsteve Messiah? LoL, because of the game pass "glitch"? This is what we call smart marketing. I recently read somewhere that Microsoft is going to tackle this stacking. No idea which site. But that will also change in the future

@Blackmagehobbit for €99 a year? You're kidding me if you really think that

@TommyNL @TommyNL he's literally allowing people with no console to play next gen games on the likes of tablets and mobile phones, thats pushing the boundaries of gaming, allowing access to everyone.

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