Sony will soon remove over 550 purchased movies and TV shows from PlayStation users’ digital libraries, it’s confirmed.
From September 1, 2026, all purchased content related to the production and distribution firm Studio Canal will be removed from PlayStation users’ video libraries due to the end of a content licensing agreement.
In a message sent to users on Friday, Sony confirmed that those affected “will no longer be able to access your previously purchased content”. The company made no mention of refunds or compensation.
Studio Canal distributes a wide variety of video content on PlayStation consoles, including movies like Evil Dead, From Dusk Till Dawn, and Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and TV shows such asThe Young Pope and Trust Me.
A full list of video content being removed from users’ libraries in September can be found on the PlayStation website.
The removals again raise the issue of preservation in the games industry, in a week where Grand Theft Auto 6 was confirmed as arguably the biggest entertainment release ever to skip physical media.
Like most digital storefronts, the terms of PlayStation’s End-User License Agreement dictate that users purchase licenses to view content, and said content can be removed upon the expiry of licensing agreements.
In March 2021, Sony announced plans to close the PlayStation Store on PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, and PlayStation Portable, potentially making hundreds of games impossible to purchase.
However, following backlash from players, the company made a partial u-turn, stating that it would no longer close the PS3 or Vita stores but was still planning to close the PSP store.
Journalist Brittany Vincent argued in a VGC column at the time that the games industry needs to increase its efforts for preserving video games, before more titles are lost to time.
“The medium is priceless – and while many of us were careless in its infancy, there’s no real excuse these days not to archive every bit of the art form we’ve come to cherish, not with high fidelity capture cards, the ability to scan items and documents directly from our phones, and literal 3D printers,” she wrote.
“If we don’t want to see additional games lost to the sands of time, it’s time to start getting serious about preservation – before it’s too late.”
