Players on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita are having trouble accessing their digital purchases after a strange expiration date suddenly appeared on certain games, as first reported by Kotaku. The issue seems to mostly affect classic titles, preventing users from playing Chrono Cross, Chrono Trigger, and Final Fantasy VI as the games are now “expired”.
But here’s the strange part: The best-before dates date back half a century. Twitter user Christopher Foose shared an image of his Chrono Cross download, showing that the game expired on December 31, 1969 at 7:20 PM. He says that the problem only started after he redownloaded the game and that he can no longer play it on PS3 and PS Vita.
GamesHub editor Edmond Tran found the same way he couldn’t play Chrono Cross on the PS3 due to a 52-year expiration date. And while Tran says he could still play the classic title on his PS Vita, he couldn’t find the listing in the PS Vita store, a sign that Sony may have removed it. Other users on Reddit and Twitter also reported the issue with Rune Factory Oceans, Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition, Gex: Enter the Gecko, and for some, their entire digital library.
As detailed in the various threads and posts regarding the issue, some players say they have tried factory resetting their consoles, opting in and out of PlayStation Plus, and restoring their game licenses, all to no avail. PlayStation has not yet acknowledged the situation and the game company has not immediately responded to The Verge’s request for comment.
However, there is one possible reason why this could be happening. Kotaku notes that the issue could be caused by a glitch causing the PS Vita and PS3 to revert game license expiration dates back to the Unix era, or the arbitrary time and date set by developers to mark the beginning of a console’s life. to point out.
Even if this is just a glitch, there’s concern that Sony is hitting the PS3 and PS Vita stores again. After the game company nearly closed both stores last year, it made shopping more difficult by removing the ability to use credit cards or PayPal to make purchases.
This post ‘Expired’ digital PS Vita and PS3 games made unplayable
was original published at “https://www.theverge.com/2022/4/10/23019235/playstation-digital-games-ps3-ps-vita-expiring-sony-chrono-trigger”