A worrying issue appears to have cropped up for PlayStation Plus subscribers over the past week. Several upvoted posts in Reddit's PlayStation Plus community have reported that they've lost access to certain games that they've previously acquired as part of their PlayStation Plus subscription. These games include titles like Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and others. Sony has yet to officially comment on the issue but is said to be looking into it.
A prominent post in the PlayStation Plus subreddit brought attention to the issue earlier this week, but follow-up posts from other PlayStation Plus subscribers have repeated the problem. The issues are always the same. Despite currently being subscribed to PlayStation Plus, they no longer have access to games granted to them in previous months of PlayStation Plus. Instead, the game features the PlayStation Plus icon with a locked symbol on top of it.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 is repeatedly noted as one of the games which had PlayStation Plus access revoked, but it isn't the only game. One subscriber showed that they lost access to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Another user mentioned buying the DLC for Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown only for PlayStation Plus to lock them out. Other games mentioned include Wreckers, Destruction AllStars, and Hitman.
Why can’t I play some of the ps plus games I have? I just noticed that while trying to download some of the games I put in my library and I can’t download them for some reason. I tried restoring licences and everything but nothing works. Any help would be appropriated. from PlayStationPlus
Exactly what the problem is with PlayStation Plus isn't clear and affected subscribers haven't been able to find a solution to the problem yet. They've tried the "Renew License" option in each games' settings, deleting and attempting to reinstall, and contacting support to see if PlayStation can unlock the games -- which it can't. The only theory that could prove true is that it has to do with letting PlayStation Plus lapse and then later resubscribing.
Several responses in these Reddit threads mention bringing the issue up with PlayStation support and having been told it's being looked into. PlayStation hasn't made an official statement on the matter, however. It may even prove true that this is by design, that it's part of a PlayStation Plus licensing agreement that PlayStation doesn't like to talk about publically.
For the time being, PlayStation Plus users should be aware that if they let their membership lapse, certain games may no longer be available once they resubscribe. Considering PlayStation's promise that these games would unlock if users resubscribed, it's a disappointing situation. But considering the lack of communication on the matter, fixing PlayStation Plus seems like a relatively low priority for the company.
Source: Reddit