Sony is taking away your guaranteed free monthly PS4 PlayStation Plus games, but not until next year

This may not surprise many of you who are tuned in to everything video games, but the PlayStation 4 will turn 12 later this year. This is likely why Sony no longer sees offering PS4 games as a core benefit of PlayStation Plus.

The good news is that you’ll at least have this entire year to enjoy some free PS4 games as part of your subscription.

In a blog post announcing the PlayStation Plus line-up for February, a Sony executive offered an update on the games players can expect as part of their membership starting in 2026. Game services content director, Adam Michel, revealed that Sony will focus on PS5 titles in the monthly offering starting January 2026.

The executive said that more players have simply moved over to their PS5, and that’s where games are being redeemed from. As a result, PS4 games “will no longer be a key benefit”, but may occasionally pop up in the monthly line-up after January.

“We may still provide titles that can be playable on both PS4 and PS5 consoles after this date,” he added, likely referring to games that have current and last-gen versions. In other words, you won’t see games that were explicitly released for PS4 only.

This change won’t affect the PS4 games you’ve previously redeemed. You’ll continue to be able to play those games for as long as your membership lasts. Game Catalog games will be available until they leave as part of the monthly refreshes, as usual.

“We’ll continue to evolve the experience of PlayStation Plus and optimize the benefits you receive, including exclusive discounts, online multiplayer access, online game save storage and more,” he added.

“As we shift our focus to PS5, we look forward to adding new PS5 titles monthly for you to enjoy.”

This sort of platform depreciation is fairly standard for those services. It happened with the PS3 once it got old enough, and will likely happen to the PS5 as it gets closer to the 12-year mark. All that aside, however, most players only really care about the PS5 games in each monthly PS Plus drop, and you could even see that in the reactions to the line-up reveals.