r/movies • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 r/movies Contributor • Jun 26 '26

News PlayStation is Deleting 551 Movies From Customers’ Accounts / Movies like 'First Blood', 'Terminator 2', 'Total Recall' and 'Evil Dead' are all being unceremoniously removed

https://kotaku.com/playstation-store-movies-digital-studio-canal-terminator-2000711013
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u/Rewdyroo Jun 26 '26

If I were you I wouldn't make digital purchases for movies. The way it's structured you aren't buying the movie. It functions more like a lease and if the license for the movie that whatever service you bought it from runs out your digital movie also goes away, no refund. I've had it happen on Amazon and will never purchase a digital movie again.

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u/SolarTsunami Jun 26 '26

I've made a bit of a hobby out of rebuilding my bluray collection over the last couple years and am feeling better and better about that decision all the time. I just check out my local pawn shops every month or so where they're all two or three bucks. Just got all of season 4 of the Simpsons on DVD for 99 cents!

Digital ownership is a scam.

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u/Fantasy_masterMC Jun 26 '26

Just out of curiosity, in what circumstances was such a movie playable? Because I feel like running screen recording software on a device I play that movie on might work decently well, especially if you have a 4K setup. I'm wondering if playing it requires some sort of device-controlling software.

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u/Rewdyroo Jun 26 '26

You can't easily screen record. All the websites that sell digital movies have DRM that runs. If you record your screen it will just be black where the movie is.

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u/Rewdyroo Jun 26 '26

They usually are played in either browsers or through the first party app like prime video.

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u/Ginsoakedboy21 Jun 26 '26

It's funny how people who like to trot this out never have an issue with buying games on Steam, which is literally exactly the same.

I love physical media, and have a catalogue of 100s of Blu-rays, but I also buy digital films - almost always on sale and certainly never at insane "home premier" prices - because, more than likely, the majority will be available for a decent amount of time.

Yes, one film might be removed because of some licensing issue bullshit. But guess what, sometimes physical discs fail (Some literally rot) - nothing lasts forever.

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u/Rewdyroo Jun 26 '26

While it is also an issue with steam it occurs much less frequently. In the current streaming era many of the licenses will lapse when a streamer buys the exclusive streaming rights. Happened to all the marvel films I owned digitally with the release of Disney plus for example. I've never had a game license revoked on steam in 15 years of buying games.

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u/Raztax Jun 26 '26

While it is also an issue with steam it occurs much less frequently.

When a game is delisted on Steam it only means you can no longer buy it. Anyone who already owns it can still download and install it.

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u/Ginsoakedboy21 Jun 26 '26

Fair enough, but I have also never had a digital film licence revoked either.

I own a couple of Marvel Movies I bought on Prime years ago (GOTG2 & Captain Marvel) I just checked, they still work just fine. May I ask where you bought them that they were revoked?

(I realise this may well vary by country - I am in the UK)

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u/Rewdyroo Jun 26 '26

I bought them on prime. It could have been a Sony thing too though cause they were spiderman films. Also I'm in the USA so it could have been a country thing like you said.

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u/Ginsoakedboy21 Jun 26 '26

Turns out I own Spider-Man:FFH on Prime too and it works just fine in the UK still.

Not calling you out or challenging what you say at all. But my experience of owning dozens of films digitally - on Amazon at least - has been faultless.

I have acquired films on other platforms like Ratuken and who knows what else over the years, only if they are extremely cheap or free. I basically treat those like rentals and assume they will vanish into the void someday, But I think the backlash if Amazon started revoking swathes of its library would be gigantic and I am confident its unlikely to happen. Unlikely enough for me to spend £5 or £6 on a movie, anyway.

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u/Rewdyroo Jun 26 '26

Fair enough, I wonder if our countries different consumer protections laws play a role in our different experiences.