# PlayStation Store 6 Hacker News commenters recommended PlayStation Store and 62 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 2 of 13 months. **Verdict:** Recommended for game prices at or near MSRP and purchases that stay downloadable; the common caveat is that movie purchases can be removed. ## Why people recommend it - Past purchases remain downloadable and playable (2 comments): "my entire PSN digital library for the past 20 years is still downloadable and playable" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48752816)) "All sony has to do is not delete your games." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48843854)) - Frequent sales and prices near MSRP (2 comments): "The PlayStation store is never more than MSRP and frequently has sales." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48970359)) "I'd still pick PlayStation over eBay. Even at this price point." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48754133)) ## What people warn about - Buy wording hides a license (4 comments): "Sony very strongly, probably deceptively and maliciously, implies the "lifetime pass" part while they full well know they're only selling you a ticket" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48716866)) "Sony (and many others) clearly imply in their wording that you're buying a copy when in fact you're buying a streaming license" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48717825)) "it should not be legal for the product page to say “purchase” or “buy” when in reality you’re only renting it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48692164)) - Store can remove purchased content (4 comments): "Xbox and PSN don't have such luxuries AFAIK, after a game is removed from the store you cannot keep downloading and playing them." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49139369)) "It's really cocky of them to do this immediately after deleting everyone's purchased movies from their accounts." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48802001)) "Otherwise Sony would have refunded these Studio Canal purchases to maintain the trustworthiness of their store" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48723291)) - Movies sold without licensing rights (2 comments): "It sounds like they didn't actually have the license necessary to be able to sell these movies in any reasonable way." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48692716)) "decided NOT to secure the rights they'd need for the digital purchases to actually work like a purchase" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48934537)) - Steam seen as more durable (2 comments): "I have much more confidence that my Steam games will still be usable a couple of decades from now than the xbox/ps stores" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48755774)) "Nintendo, Epic, Microsoft, & Sony have all failed to do well what Steam has gotten better at" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48816278)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Steam](https://hackerapproved.com/p/steam.md): 716 recommend - [GOG](https://hackerapproved.com/p/gog.md): 250 recommend - [itch.io](https://hackerapproved.com/p/itch-io.md): 39 recommend - [Epic Games Store](https://hackerapproved.com/p/epic-games-store.md): 37 recommend - [Humble Bundle](https://hackerapproved.com/p/humble-bundle.md): 20 recommend ## Where to get it - [Visit the official site](https://store.playstation.com/en-us/pages/latest) ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "PlayStation Store", https://hackerapproved.com/p/playstation-store/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).