You will not be able to re-download them, or play any games that you had previously downloaded & installed via Playstation Plus. If you try to download any of the games from your download history, it will not work.
However, if you later decide to renew your subscription, these games will become available for use again. They are even re-downloadable, as long as you added the games to your cart and successfully checked out before their free offer period passed.
Q: How long do I get to keep the free games with PS Plus?
A: Games you get with PS Plus are free to download with a PS Plus membership. As long as you are a PS Plus member, you’ll always have access to any game you’ve added to your library, even if you’ve previously deleted a game from your hard drive.
Q: If a game is no longer available for free with PS Plus, can I still download it for free with my PS Plus membership?
A: If you did not add a game to your library when it was free with PS Plus, you will not be able to secure your free download. However, if you added a game to your library when it was available for free, but it’s no longer on your hard drive, you can visit the PlayStation Store and re-download it anytime, as long as you’re a PS Plus member.
Q: How many times can I download / re-download a game in the Instant Game Collection?
A: Download a game as many times as you like, even if it’s been deleted from your PS4 hard drive, as long as you’re a PS Plus member.
Q: What happens to the games and add-ons I download for free through a PS Plus membership if I decide to not renew my membership?
A: If you do not renew your PS Plus membership, you won't have access to previous free games downloaded with PS Plus. If you have purchased add-ons for a game you received free with PS Plus, and the add-ons require the free game to play, you will not be able to access the add-ons if you choose not to renew your membership.
Should you decide to re-activate your membership, you can again play all free games downloaded, along with all purchased add-ons for these games. Alternatively, you may also purchase the specific game to access any purchased add-ons for the game.
More information can be found at PSN's Support page here and here.
Answer from Kotsu on Stack ExchangeYou will not be able to re-download them, or play any games that you had previously downloaded & installed via Playstation Plus. If you try to download any of the games from your download history, it will not work.
However, if you later decide to renew your subscription, these games will become available for use again. They are even re-downloadable, as long as you added the games to your cart and successfully checked out before their free offer period passed.
Q: How long do I get to keep the free games with PS Plus?
A: Games you get with PS Plus are free to download with a PS Plus membership. As long as you are a PS Plus member, you’ll always have access to any game you’ve added to your library, even if you’ve previously deleted a game from your hard drive.
Q: If a game is no longer available for free with PS Plus, can I still download it for free with my PS Plus membership?
A: If you did not add a game to your library when it was free with PS Plus, you will not be able to secure your free download. However, if you added a game to your library when it was available for free, but it’s no longer on your hard drive, you can visit the PlayStation Store and re-download it anytime, as long as you’re a PS Plus member.
Q: How many times can I download / re-download a game in the Instant Game Collection?
A: Download a game as many times as you like, even if it’s been deleted from your PS4 hard drive, as long as you’re a PS Plus member.
Q: What happens to the games and add-ons I download for free through a PS Plus membership if I decide to not renew my membership?
A: If you do not renew your PS Plus membership, you won't have access to previous free games downloaded with PS Plus. If you have purchased add-ons for a game you received free with PS Plus, and the add-ons require the free game to play, you will not be able to access the add-ons if you choose not to renew your membership.
Should you decide to re-activate your membership, you can again play all free games downloaded, along with all purchased add-ons for these games. Alternatively, you may also purchase the specific game to access any purchased add-ons for the game.
More information can be found at PSN's Support page here and here.
Once your PlayStation Plus (PS+) membership expired all "free" games (and DLC) obtained will not be accessible until you renew your subscription.
Attempting to launch an expired game will launch a message that says "This content can be used if you renew the license in PlayStation Store." You'll then be redirected to the PlayStation Store, where you will be able to purchase the expired title.
- All "free" games (and DLC) obtained from PS+ WILL be expire.
- Free themes and avatars do NOT expire.
- Anything that you've purchased at a discounted price will NOT expire.
See Section 10a of the PS3 Terms of Service, "Subscription Services".
If you (sign in to) resubscribe after your subscription expires, the games will work again. You will not have to re-download them.
For example...
Bloodborne is not in the ps plus extra library anymore, but I installed it before it left.
My question is, do I get to keep the game when my subscription ends? Or I lose it like every other active game in the library even tho this one isn't anymore.
I've had my PlayStation 5 for a while.
I always got the extra package.
Now I wanted to get the essential package. ARK, for example, is included. Would I keep the game forever, or how does that work?
Can I also play other essential games that I added earlier?
I don't fully understand the system and would appreciate an answer!
So I'm like 99% I just can't access/play them anymore, the thing I wanna know is, do they still stay in my library, and I can play them if I sign PS Plus again, or do they just go away?
Also does anything happen with my PSN stuff? (I'm pretty sure I never acctually signed PSN, I just got it with Plus)
Once you've 'purchased' an Instant Game Collection game with PSPlus, you can access it as long as you're subscribed. Subscribe again, and you can access it again (or download it again, if you need to).
From the PlayStation Plus FAQ:
Q: What happens to the games and Add-Ons I downloaded free through a PS Plus membership, and I decide to not renew my membership?
A: If you do not renew your PS Plus membership, you will not be able to access previous free games downloaded with Plus. If you have purchased Add-Ons for a game you received free in Plus, and it requires said free game to play it, you will not be able to access these Add-Ons if you choose not to renew your membership. However, if you decide to re-activate your membership, you will once again be able to play all games downloaded from the Instant Game Collection along with all purchased DLC for these games. Alternatively, you may also purchase the specific game to access any purchased Add-Ons for the game as well.
Games purchased using the discount are yours for keeps, even if you stop subscribing:
Q: So while I can only access games downloaded free as long as I’m a Plus member, what about games and other content I purchase with a Plus discount?
A: Any content you purchase with a Plus discount is yours to keep, regardless of you membership status.
They stay connected to your account but you cannot access them when your subscription ends.
When you renew your subscription you get back what you had before plus the new items that are available at that time (I believe you need to start the download or add to library before they get connected to your account)
If your subscription ends and you don't resubscribe until several months later, you will not get the content you missed out in between.
I took up 1 month of PSPlus Premium so I can try out different games on my new PS5 without paying full price for them, now I find that I am vested in quite a few games - my membership will end in a month so I know I will lose access to those games but I have two questions:
If I renew my PS plus Premium a few months later (after it expired), would I be able to continue the games from where I left them or will I have to start them from scratch again.
Same question but what if I buy a game that I was playing on PSPlus before it expired, can i continue to play the game from where I left it on PSPlus or do I need to start afresh?
After I took a long break from online gaming during the PS3 era, which didn’t require a subscription to play online, and got back to playing online after the pandemic, I was surprised to see that most online games can’t be played without a PS Plus subscription. When Sony announced their intention to shut down the PS3 store in 2021, there was a huge backlash against it that led them to keep it open. Why was there not a bigger and effective backlash about requiring a subscription to play online during the PS4 era? I understand that was way before, but I still find surprising that tens of millions of PlayStation players simply accepted it.