Any Other PS Plus Members Locked Out?

[poetic_justice_]

Evil Genius 2 is included in the new PS Plus Extra games catalog. Excited to play the game, I downloaded it. During the current Level Up PSN sale, the season pass went on sale. "Awesome!" I thought. "Now I can play the whole game!" After purchasing the season pass and downloading all DLC, I attempted to start the game.

 

A message appeared on the screen telling me I needed to "Upgrade your membership or purchase this game." This made no sense because my Extra membership worked fine the day before on Evil Genius 2, and the other Extra catalog games weren't telling me to "upgrade or purchase". I deleted the game and tried to reinstall it; I can no longer download it. I renewed all my game licenses, thinking that might help. Nothing. Upon calling Sony, I was placed in a queue behind 330+ other PlayStation customers. After listening to my dilemma, the customer service representative's response was, "Many other people are having similar issues. Sony is investigating." When I asked for more information, the person refused to answer any questions. They gave a generic response about following Sony's customer service page for updates.

 

Another game I no longer have access to is Syberia 3; the streaming option was removed. Has anyone else been locked out of Evil Genius 2 on Extra?

[Mokujin]

9 minutes ago, poetic_justice_ said:

Evil Genius 2 is included in the new PS Plus Extra games catalog. Excited to play the game, I downloaded it. During the current Level Up PSN sale, the season pass went on sale. "Awesome!" I thought. "Now I can play the whole game!" After purchasing the season pass and downloading all DLC, I attempted to start the game.

 

 

 

A message appeared on the screen telling me I needed to "Upgrade your membership or purchase this game." This made no sense because my Extra membership worked fine the day before on Evil Genius 2, and the other Extra catalog games weren't telling me to "upgrade or purchase". I deleted the game and tried to reinstall it; I can no longer download it. I renewed all my game licenses, thinking that might help. Nothing. Upon calling Sony, I was placed in a queue behind 330+ other PlayStation customers. After listening to my dilemma, the customer service representative's response was, "Many other people are having similar issues. Sony is investigating." When I asked for more information, the person refused to answer any questions. They gave a generic response about following Sony's customer service page for updates.

 

Another game I no longer have access to is Syberia 3; the streaming option was removed. Has anyone else been locked out of Evil Genius 2 on Extra?

Evil Genius was removed from the catalogue very very quickly, unsure why though I’d assume it was like Shadow Warrior in that it’s “Now” end date passed. You’ve been extremely extremely unlucky unfortunately

[poetic_justice_]

Thank you for the response. Evil Genius 2 was never part of Playstation Now, as Playstation Now never had PS5 versions of games. I wonder if publisher Rebellion backpedaled on Evil Genius 2 being in the Extra catalog. Rebellion has always had their Sniper Elite series on PS Now, so I don't know why they would pull Evil Genius 2. Perhaps Sony accidentally added it as a mistake. As it is, this blows. I would have bought Evil Genius 2 when it was on sale had I known it wasn't going to be part of the Extra catalog. The Sony rep could have at least said the game was dropped without an announcement from the Extra catalog. Thanks for the heads up. I didn't expect the new Playstation Plus transition to be flawless, but this unintentional bait-and-switch is bad. 

 

https://twistedvoxel.com/playstation-store-removes-ps-plus-extra-catalog/

Edited June 29, 2022 by poetic_justice_

[GUDGER666]

It can't have been a mistake 3 times just like the other games like Project Cars 2&3. This happened on each launch. The service is currently riddled with issues and Sony seem to be doing nothing. 

[poetic_justice_]

I feel your disappointment with Sony launches. However, I wouldn't say Sony is doing nothing. They are inconsistent with communication, though, and that is frustrating. I was pleasantly surprised that they resolved the issues with Syphon Filter within two weeks. I am sad to hear you have issues with Project Cars 2 & 3, though, as those games look like they offer loads of content for racing gamers.

 

It may be Sony bit off more than they could chew with the addition of hundreds of games to the new Extra and Classics catalogs. I am certain that behind the scenes there are legal licensing issues and lawyers maneuvering for the biggest slice of the pie for their clients. The transition has gone well for 95%+ of the games in the new catalogs, and I am grateful for that. I am happy to have access to dozens of games I wanted to check out but did not have the money to purchase otherwise.

 

Evil Genius 2 is a sore spot for me because it was such an unexpected surprise that quickly turned to disappointment. I bought the DLC in the morning, went to work excited to try it after my shift, and came home to be locked out of the game. After two days with no workarounds, I was finally able to reach Sony and be told... nothing. I am grateful for this site and the post from @Keidah, because otherwise I would not have known Sony removed the game without announcement. Maybe it will return, like the Voxel article says. Either way, I am grateful for this community. Thanks, Keidah.

[ShotgunSquirrel]

This is probably too optimistic but maybe they accidentally added it early and it is supposed to be revealed in the mid monthly additions they're supposedly doing. 

I know we're getting 'Stray' in the service but you'd think they'd be adding at least 3 games a month. It seems unlikely but hopefully this is the case and your DLC purchase hasn't gone to waste.

[poetic_justice_]

@ShotgunSquirrel, thanks for the kind words. The DLC won't go to waste, though I have to wait to use it. It might be a while before the game goes on sale and/or is added to the PS+ catalog. 

[jobe13]

With the game being added back to Extras now, I’m curious if you (op) already purchased the game or if you’re excited it has returned to PS+.

[poetic_justice_]

On 12/19/2022 at 4:56 PM, jobe13 said:

With the game being added back to Extras now, I’m curious if you (op) already purchased the game or if you’re excited it has returned to PS+.

In the six months between Sony's (accidental) bait and switch with Evil Genius 2 and its return to PS Plus, I bought the game. No, for personal reasons, I am not excited it has returned to PS+, and I feel Sony mishandled the situation. Sony has gone on to remove numerous PS+ games that were core to many players paying more for Extra/Premium, such as Red Dead Redemption 2, and the Mafia 1/2/3 Definitive Editions. These delistings have been done with little to no announcement, leaving the PS+ community confused. One day, the games work on PlayStation consoles, and literally the next day, they don't. Subscribers often don't know until after it happens. The best source of information is often third parties, such as delisting threads on sites like PSNProfiles, not Sony themselves.

 

However, in terms of the larger PSN community, it is a good thing Evil Genius 2 has returned. I hope zany, comical strategy games find their footing on consoles; I love humorous titles like this. I would love to see more gamers enjoying less stressful, less toxic games, because then they will support such games, and the console industry will hopefully take note and produce more less stressful, less toxic games.

Edited December 21, 2022 by poetic_justice_

[NemoG]

It's part of the playstation extra subscription now, I got it 3 days ago and love it. 

 

I understand your situation was crap and I would have been upset as well, for any future people reading this thread the game is included in the extra ps+ subscription and works fine on pat at least.