Sony’s PlayStation Store has announced to customers in Germany and Austria that it is removing hundreds of purchased movies and TV shows from their access. Starting from August 31 – Sony said it will pull 314 bought and rented movies from Germany and 137 from Austria – a year the entertainment company said it will no longer provide an opportunity to purchase or rent movies, Variety reports.
Sony cited higher costs of streaming video as part of the reasons for pulling the service last year, even though it promised that content bought through the PlayStation Store will still be available for playback on PS4, PS5, and mobile devices. But it is now obvious that this is no longer the case.
“As of August 31, 2022, due to our evolving licensing agreements with content providers, you will no longer be able to view your previously purchased Studio Canal content, and it will be removed from your video library,” Sony notified its users abroad. “We greatly appreciate your continued support.”
With this development, it is not clear if Sony will refund customers for the movie and TV purchases they can no longer access, and both Sony and Studio Canal representatives have not responded to queries in this regard.
Some of the Studio Canal titles affected include “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy,” “Paddington,” “Non-Stop” and “Shaun the Sheep Movie.” Lionsgate movies such as “The Hunger Games,” “John Wick,” and the “Saw” series will be lost to customers.
This is definitely not the first time that online customers will pay for streaming movies and not be able to utilize them. Following the shutdown of Flixter Video, many titles meant for UK customers could not be migrated to Google Play and the customers could not access them even after paying for the content.
The Sony scenario shows that there is no guarantee that streaming content paid for will be available for the time promised due to providers’ faults or shortsightedness.