You wouldn’t think you’d ever have to worry about expired games on your PS3 or PS Vita, but that’s apparently what’s happening to some owners of said Sony consoles. A report from Kotaku details complaints from some users who say their games have expired on their PS3 and PS Vita handhelds.
Noting that they went to play a game and were greeted with a message that the game would no longer be playable. Understandably, users are upset that they can’t play the games they’ve paid for. Mind you, these aren’t games from services like PS Now which cycles out games from time to time. Or from a PlayStation Plus library that’s tied to a cancelled subscription. In both of those scenarios, this would be the legitimate way things work.
Rather, these are purchased games that were re-downloaded and were labeled with expiration dates.
PS3 users are being confronted with expired games when they try to play
According to one user on Twitter, after redownloading their original version of Chrono Cross on PS3, the console told them it was expired. With an expiration date of December 31, 1969. Obviously, this is a glitch in the system since the PS3 wasn’t around then. Nor were any other video games or consoles of any kind.
The same user also mentions that this was happening with Chrono Trigger. And that neither the PS3 nor the PS Vita would allow them to play.
So did @PlayStation expire the PSOne Classics versions of #ChronoCross and #ChronoTrigger by setting the date on new downloads to 12/31/1969? This is preventing me from playing my purchased copies on Vita and PS3. @ModernVintageG@dark1xpic.twitter.com/wxRebNIZWh
— Christopher Foose (@FooseTV) April 8, 2022
The same issue is happening to multiple users for various other games
According to Kotaku, users are experiencing the same issues as user FooseTV on Twitter. Multiple reports from uses on Reddit, GameFAQs, and other Twitter users mention that the same problem is happening across various games. Including Final Fantasy VI, Rune Factory: Oceans, and for some, even their entire classic libraries.
Currently, it also appears Sony has yet to address this problem. And it’s not immediately clear whether it will or not.