Ever since PlayStation Plus launched this past June, subscribers have been receiving many discounts, deals and steals, that are exclusive to the service. These can range from discounts on PSN games, free avatars and themes, and occasionally, free games. Sony has made it clear from the beginning… if you stop subscribing to PlayStation Plus, you lose the games you got for free while subscribing to the service. But what exactly happens to those free games? It’s not like Sony can just suck them right out of your PS3 HDD, can they?
For users that let their PlayStation Plus subscription lapse, then attempt to launch a game that they received for free, they will be greeted with the following message:
“This content can be used if you renew the license in PlayStation Store.”
Though it has been stated that games that were paid for at a discount are still accessible, that. This only seems to apply to free titles that were received on the PlayStation Network.
From there you can either renew your PlayStation Plus subscription, or you can purchase the full game at the full price. Of if you’re not interested in the game after all, you can just move on and go about your merry way.
[Source]
