PlayStation Is Revoking Access to Some Purchased PS Store Movies

Sony no longer sells movies and TV shows through the PlayStation Store, but based on some announcements made this week, it looks like not even the products users already purchased are safe in their digital libraries. The PlayStation owners announced this week that digital titles from Studiocanal will be removed entirely and will no longer be viewable even if users already bought them. Those include hundreds of movies encompassing series such as the Saw and Hunger Games films as well as many more.

This revoking of digital ownership is so far only restricted to two different regions: Germany and Austria. Over on the PlayStation sites for those respective regions, the PlayStation team confirmed that even purchased movies will be removed from digital libraries.

"As of August 31, 2022, due to our evolving licensing agreements with content providers, you will no longer be able to view your previously purchased Studio Canal content and it will be removed from your video library," the statements said.

Even if you've never heard of Studiocanal, you've undoubtedly heard of the company's movies and other productions it's been associated with over the years. American Gods, Apocalypse Now, Blair Witch, Escape from New York, Jigsaw and other Saw movies, Paddington and Paddington 2, The Hunger Games and its sequels, This Is Spinal Tap, and many more are among the releases that'll be pulled from users' accounts starting on August 31st.

The good news (for those outside of Germany and Austria) is that this change does not appear to be extending to other regions just yet, but that doesn't mean it won't happen at all. Sony has not yet said anything about other regions being affected by this.

This announcement comes around a year after Sony announced that it would no longer sell movies or TV shows through the PlayStation Store and follows the announcement from October 2019 that PlayStation Vue was no more. Digital games being delisted and therefore more difficult to obtain is a topic frequently discussed when talking about digital ownership, but even when those games are removed from stores, they stay available in players' accounts after purchase. Removing them entirely is a much different situation, however, and is one that probably won't go over well considering there was no mentioning of any sort of refund opportunities for the revoked goods.