PS5 Console Sharing and Offline Play is the new Primary PS4 system

"PS5 Console Sharing and Offline Play is the new name of the system that PlayStation players would think of as the Primary PS4 system, one that's crucial for those game sharing with another friend or family member," writes Steve Wright.

[BigBosss]

Will be sharing my digital games with my best friend :)

He will be able to get Godfall, Demon's Souls and other games off of me so we can play together or solo

[East76lands]

Me and my brother share games the same way.

[Eidolon]

For me, I usually split the cost the my brother, and a lot of time we can play online.

[Chriswheeler22]

same as me and my brother too.

[East76lands]

For birthdays and Christmas we buy each other a game too, lol.

[CaptainHenry916]

Cool

[sourOG]

It’s the right move. People buy more games when they are taking turns. Remove the hassle.

[thecodingart]

This is anti friendly to family -_-

[Thatgrammar]

What does you comment even mean? How is this “anti friendly to family”?

[SmokinAces]

I think it was just an attempt at sarcasm.

[RazzerRedux]

lol.....what?

[EmperorDalek]

It sounds the same as the current PS4 system from what I can tell. But I know what you mean. Towards the end of the generation where a large family may own 2-3 consoles, it makes it impossible to buy digital, as everyone in the house, bar one account holder, would be locked into playing it on the one console. And heaven forbid if there's a WiFi outage. You would need to have more than one PS+ membership in this case too.

It's a shame, as the PS3 used to allow 5 activated consoles per account. But people exploited it via game sharing, and families ended up paying the price.

[Gridknac]

I have 2 ps4s, one for me and one for the wife. As it is now I only ever have to buy one digital copy of a game and I only pay for one ps+. I set her console as my primary and she has access to my library and my ps+. On my actual ps4, so long as I connect to the net, I can actually play with her online using the same copy of a game. You just cant do that with a physical disc.

[thecodingart]

^this this and this. Frankly, I can’t even consider buying digital if I know my wife is going to play with me or want to play herself. Especially when the “primary PS4” stuff is what ties your PS consoles behavior to background syncs with game saves and downloads 😒

[Risky_24]

@Tiqila When you borrow your disc to a friend can you still play that game without the disc?

[EmperorDalek]

@Tiqila - I could understand Sony's reasoning when it came to game sharing, I knew a few people who teamed up to buy a game once, and ended up splitting it amongst the five of their group. That's overkill. The difference with physical games is that you can't play it on 5 consoles at the same time.

I personally didn't have a problem with it, and certainly I've been put off buying games digitally on PS4 for the most part. But from a business point of view it probably wasn't doing Sony any good, and it's not surprise that they shut it down. It was exploiting the system I would say.

@Gridknac - That's good, that's what I do as well. The problem is when you have your main console in the kids room, you're now prone to being locked out of your own one if the WiFi goes down. And the fact that only your account will work on the secondary console makes it harder.

[JackBNimble]

When you game share on ps4 with digital you can play the game at the same time you're sharing it. If that game is multiplayer online then you can play that game with the person you're sharing with.

This is not even close to sharing a disc based game.

[Risky_24]

*EDIT* Double post. Reposted below

[Anghellic]

bring back the good old days when we could game share with five different people

[P_Bomb]

This. I still have three PS3s. At the very least allow two primaries at the same time. One for my OG PS4, one for my PS Pro. We have two very active accounts. Would eliminate the hassle of someone always being locked outta something.

[The Wood]

Cant lie, me and my guys exploited the ef outta that. I all purchased different games. The library was nuts

[Profchaos]

Interesting so I can use my ps5 and still have a primary ps4 meaning I can sign in on another unit anywhere else and use my games in someone else's profile.

I wonder if kids can play these games at the same time as me on the old ps4 so we can buy star wars squadrons and play together now

[whateverman]

Both of my kids have PS4's. My question is is there a way I can stop paying for two PS+ memberships, and share one?

[SamPao]

You buy ps+ for kid 1.
On kid 2s ps4 you activate kid 1s account as primary.
Kid 2 can now play online and all the games of kid 1.
Kid 1 can play online while beeing logged in.

[MrNinosan]

@Tiqila
Yes they can. That’s the setup I had here for 7 years.

I’m Playing my PS+ Borderlands on my PS4 and my son it with me on his PS4.
We only have 1 PS+ account, but 2 PSN accounts.

[ocelot07]

Yup what @SamPao

[P_Bomb]

@Mr
Ditto. Wife’s been playing COD MP on her own account across multiple systems and has never had PS+. She just piggybacks off my subscription. It’s like the old Xbox Gold family pack but no extra charge.

[JackBNimble]

I share with my son and I only buy ps+ for my console and he also get ps+ privileges expect he can't download games from ps+ on his name.

This is because his console is the primary under my name, and when I log into my console as long as I am connected to psn I too can play and use psn and anything i own online.

The only draw back is when psn is down I can't log in and play anything, but my son can play when psn is down because his console is the primary.

[Teflon02]

Simple fix

So like this
A goes to boy 1
B goes to boy 2
Right

So buy plus for the older one, and then make the older one save his account as the primary account on the younger ones system them look the account with a number lock. Then boom you're all good. Anything bought on the older ones account can be downloaded and used anytime. As well as membership benefits. Just if something is bought on the older kids system and the younger one wants to dowoad. the older one had to go in his account and do it but that's it.

[whateverman]

Awesome, thanks for the info gang.

[IdeasWithJax]

I'm tired of going on websites with adds that always interrupt what I'm reading. I was reading a story about someones death the other day and ads start popping up on the tribute.

[Gatsu]

Nice stuff.

[frostypants]

Wut