The permanence of digital game libraries and the concept of digital ownership are once again a matter of debate. Various PS5 and PS4 games were quietly removed from Sony’s digital store, PlayStation Store, without any prior warning around April 2026. The list includes not only old productions, but also a popular EA game that will meet players in 2024.

EA Sports College Football 25 and Cars 3 Are No Longer Available

In the gaming world, the expiry of licensing agreements or changes in company policies lead to the sudden disappearance of productions in digital stores. We see the most striking example of this in the EA Sports College Football 25 game. The game, which was released in 2024 for the current generation consoles, is being withdrawn not only from the PS Store but also from all online stores.

The game is now only accessible through an EA Play subscription, not through direct purchase. Users who want to own the game permanently must turn to physical copies, which are still sold at retailers like Amazon.

Another production that shared a similar fate is the 2017 racing game Cars 3: Driven to Win. Developed by Avalanche Software and published by Warner Bros. The game published by PS3 and PS4 stores is completely deleted.

It is speculated that this move was due to an expired licensing agreement, as the intellectual property rights belong to the giant company Disney. This situation actually stands out as a frequently encountered scenario in the industry; Due to similar licensing issues, many popular titles were suddenly removed from sale on Xbox and Steam stores.

Independent Productions Were Also Affected by This Wave

In addition to big budget games and popular brands, independent (indie) productions also get their share of this silent removal wave. Melon Epic Crash, a physics-based arcade game, was suddenly removed from the store for an unknown reason, even though it was released for PS4 and PS5 just this month. Taking such a step just a few weeks after its release indicates that there may have been a technical or administrative problem between the developer studio and the platform.

The last production removed from the list is Mighty Aphid, a two-dimensional platform game released in 2021. Interestingly, only the PlayStation versions of the game disappear from the store, while sales continue on other platforms. The fact that the sequel of the game (Mighty Aphid 2) is still sold on the PS Store indicates that the removal of the first game may be a temporary situation due to license renewal or a technical update. Whatever the reason, such sudden changes in digital game stores pave the way for digital version console owners to suffer.

What do you think about these games that were removed from PlayStation Store without notice? Don’t forget to express your thoughts in the comments section below.