PlayStation Store: Purchased movies simply disappear from library

Have you not only purchased digital games via the PlayStation Store on Sony consoles, but also bought movies? Then you might be in for a rude awakening. Over 300 purchased movies from Studio Canal will simply disappear from your library starting August 31, 2022.

PlayStation Store removes movie library

As of August 31, 2021, Sony has removed the ability to digitally rent and purchase movies and TV series on the PlayStation Store. That in itself would be half-bad if they didn’t now – exactly one year later – also completely remove the movies you’ve already purchased from your library, making it impossible to watch them.

It’s the nightmare of every digital content buyer, proving once again that you’re not buying movies and TV series here permanently and forever, as you would on a shapely DVD or Blu-Ray disc.

As Sony now announces on a support website and apparently also directly as a message to affected buyers, around 300 films and series from Studio Canal will be permanently removed from the library from August 31, 2022.

The terse message simply states, “Beginning 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.”

Over 300 movies and series fly out of library

For those who have purchased, digitally from the PlayStation Store, titles such as classic films “Apocalypse Now” by Francis Ford Coppola, the Oscar-winning drama “The Pianist” by Roman Polański, the “Saw” and “The Tributes of Panem” series, or the first two seasons of the popular TV series “American Gods”will no longer be able to access and play them after September 2022. For a full list of affected content, you can go to Sony.

It’s simply as if you never purchased the Machwerke. The company does not reveal whether Sony will refund the purchase price or compensate you in any other way, and simply presents you with a fait accompli.

Even if no further information is available, it seems unlikely that the affected productions from Studio Canal will be the only machinations that will be completely deleted from the PlayStation Store library.

In any case, the current example shows once again that providers, hidden behind “expiring license agreements”, can take away purchased digital content just like that and that it never really belonged to you.