PlayStation is receiving a lot of flak on social media after it decided to remove over 500 Studio Canal movies from users' libraries starting September 1.

According to a PlayStation Store announcement, any user who purchased one or more of the 551 Studio Canal movies will lose access to them when Sony's licensing agreement with Studio Canal expires. The move has reignited concerns about digital ownership and whether users truly own the content they purchase.

Sony said, "From September 1, 2026, due to our content licensing agreements, you will no longer be able to access your previously purchased content from Studio Canal, and it will be removed from your video library."

The Studio Canal movie catalog consists of fabled titles such as Terminator 2, From Dusk Till Dawn, Rambo, Moonlight, and more. This will affect PlayStation users in Spain, Italy, France, and the UK, according to the announcement.

The license might still get renewed, but it is unknown whether it would be renewed before or after the removal date and what would happen to the removed content once it is renewed.

There has been a previous case of Studio Canal content being removed from user libraries, albeit only in Germany and Austria, as Sony's licensing agreement in those regions ended in 2022.

In this case, no compensation was announced, and one has to wonder if that will remain the case for the upcoming removal as well.

"Imagine if XBOX did this" - Fans lament latest Sony move

This means that even though users purchased the movies and added them to their libraries with the assumption of owning them, they will no longer be able to access them, according to this X thread, and they weren't exactly happy either.

One fan highlighted that Sony should issue refunds: "They should have to refund the owners. Period. If they are forcibly removing access to something you paid for, you should get your money back."

No refunds have been announced so far, and if that remains the case, it could reignite the debate over so-called 'digital ownership,' where access ultimately depends on licensing agreements.

Another fan pointed out the Discovery incident, stating, "This again they tried this years ago with discovery content from memory, this is why I hate the move to digital and still have as much physical media as possible."

In December 2023, Sony also announced that PlayStation users would lose access to any Discovery TV content they had purchased because of a similar license expiration issue.

However, after massive backlash, Sony negotiated a license renewal with Discovery in time to prevent such a scenario.

One fan pointed to the difference in reaction to Sony's missteps: "Imagine if XBOX did this, the articles and podcasts on it would have been in crazy numbers."

Everything XBOX does is always criticized heavily, especially with how the company is still receiving a lot of flak for its recent announcements.

For example, XBOX has long faced criticism for charging for online multiplayer through Xbox Live, even though Sony also requires a subscription for multiplayer access on PlayStation without attracting the same level of backlash.

Regardless of everything, Sony's capability to remove previously purchased digital content from libraries should be a stark reminder of the fallacy of digital ownership.

Do you think PlayStation users should receive refunds for the removed movies? Let us know in the comments.

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Written by

Abhisek Bajaj

Edited by

Pulkit Prabhav