The PlayStation Plus Collection gives PS5 owners access to some of the biggest PS4 games as part of their standard PS Plus subscription, but you cannot claim the games via PS4. That led to a market of PS5 owners offering to sell access to these games via temporary guest logins on their console, but it appears this practice is resulting in bans.
Here’s how it works in a nutshell:
- PS5 owner offers to claim PS Plus Collection games for a PS4 owner.
- PS4 owner gives them their login details so the PS5 owner can claim the games.
- PS5 owner signs back out of the account after claiming games.
- PS4 owner changes their password.
As it turns out, Sony isn’t a big fan of players doing this. According to VGC, Hong Kong PlayStation 5 players who have sold access to the games–as well as the PS4 players who purchased them–are having their accounts banned. The bans on the accounts don’t appear to be permanent, but the PS5 consoles themselves can no longer connect to PSN. Given that online access is required for nearly everything in modern gaming, including finishing installations of disc-based games, in many cases, this essentially renders the PS5 systems useless.
Still, if you have a PS4 and a PS5, there shouldn’t really be anything stopping you from downloading the PS Plus Collection games across both systems. Several of the games were also offered as freebies through PS Plus in past months, though there are a number of titles that were made free for the first time on November 12.
If you’re still in the market for a PS5, you can check out our PS5 order guide. The system is currently very difficult to find, but listings do pop up sporadically. You can also find great PlayStation Plus membership deals so you can access those games.
