Katarzyna Petru
Sony is once again igniting the internet, and not in a good way. Recent reports from PlayStation players have caused a real storm — we’re talking about one of the most popular indie games in history, Stardew Valley, which… has started disappearing from users' accounts. And without their involvement.
“Return accepted”. The problem is that no one was returning anything
Some players who bought Stardew Valley digitally — often years ago, some even through cross-buy — recently received emails regarding a supposed refund request. Sounds like a classic mistake? Well, the consequences are much more serious.
Upon logging into their account, players discover that:
their purchased copy of the game has disappeared,
it has been replaced by a version marked as linked with PlayStation Plus,
it is no longer visible in the library as “owned”.
The worst part? No one was refunding anything. Sony somehow “determined” that this was the case — and took away the game that people paid for.
PS Vita is holding up well, but only because the game was previously downloaded
Interesting thread: the version for PS Vita in many cases… still works. If it was ever downloaded, you can fire it up without any issues. But does this mean that new purchases have been blocked? For now, no one seems able to confirm this — it looks more like the effect of a prior installation than real availability. Players rightly ask: how is it possible that a physically downloaded game works, but its “rights” on the account suddenly disappear?
“Absurd”. “Chaos”. “Lack of respect for buyers”. The internet is not leaving a dry thread on Sony
On Reddit and X, a storm has erupted. Many call the situation absurd, while others describe it as unfair. Especially since comparisons with other platforms are devastating for Sony. An example? Xbox users remind us that titles from the old Games with Gold are theirs forever — even if the program ceased to exist long ago.
On PlayStation, however, players often:
lose access to a game they purchased,
see it listed as tied to PS Plus,
and after the subscription expires, are left with nothing.
And all of this is just the tip of the iceberg
For some time now, there has been another annoying problem in the PlayStation ecosystem: if you have a game as part of PS Plus Extra, you can't purchase another version of it — even if it's a premium, expanded, or add-on edition.
Example? Returnal. Players wanted to buy a better edition, but… they couldn't. The system thought that since they had it in PS Plus, then "why bother". The situation with Stardew Valley only deepens the impression that the chaos in managing digital licenses on PlayStation has spun out of control.
What will Sony do about this?
Sony is officially silent. Players are waiting for an explanation, and the pressure is mounting hour by hour. If the company doesn't quickly rectify the situation and restore legally purchased games to users, this crisis could be one of the most serious in PlayStation's history regarding trust in digital purchases.
