The PlayStation community scrambled to get a Stellar Blade demo on their PS5s after the preview of the game was released accidently on the PlayStation Store, but the fun didn't last for long before the demo was swiftly removed. Those who got it were still able to play it if they downloaded the Stellar Blade demo in time, however, and started sharing clips of the experience online for others to see who weren't able to download it. But it seems even having the demo in your PlayStation games library wasn't enough to guarantee you'd be able to play Stellar Blade as PS5 owners who had it soon started seeing messages saying that the demo had been removed not just from the PlayStation Store but from their accounts, too.

Most of the conversations about Stellar Blade so far have been centered around its protagonist, EVE, and her outfits, but amid those gifs and videos from the demo, you'll see the frustrations with the demo situation and, on a broader scale, the digital gaming landscape where a demo like this can be pulled from players' PlayStation accounts with no ideal option to preserve it beyond going offline until you're finished with the demo.

Stellar Blade PS5 Demo Removed
Soon after the Stellar Blade demo went live on the PlayStation Store and people started playing it, some who claimed it in time started getting messages like the one below that confirmed it'd been removed from PlayStation accounts. One Twitter user who got such a message, ItzVCiPz, echoed sentiments from others by saying "digital future looking grim" given how a demo like this could be pulled from accounts at a whim. It's something that's been seen to a degree in the past with things like the P.T. demo where it gradually became more difficult to own and play as the PS5 released, but seeing a demo removed entirely from players' accounts like this is different.

Wow thanks Sony you removed the Stellar Blade demo entirely from accounts.

Digital future looking grim. pic.twitter.com/DSYxz7xq6w

— V-CiPz™ 💥 (@ItzVCiPz) March 9, 2024

"Thank you for being a valued PlayStation customer," the message shared with Stellar Blade demo owners began. "The Stellar Blade demo has been taken off the PlayStation Store effective immediately as it was not intended to be available for download at this time. The demo is no longer accessible and as a result, we have removed the demo from your account. We apologize for any inconvenience."

Of course, the quickness of the demo being added, playable, and then removed has conspiracy theorists thinking about what this means for the game. Was this a marketing ploy by PlayStation to get people talking about the game and sharing media from it? If that was the plan, it certainly worked even if most of the conversations have been about EVE as opposed to gameplay and how the demo feels. Some have also speculated that this could be indicative of a State of Play coming up, but given how there was just one in January, seeing another happen so soon seems less likely.

The good news for PS5 owners who missed out on the Stellar Blade demo is that even if it wasn't meant to be available right now, it's very much playable in the sense that it was ready to be released in some form, so that means that the official release of the Stellar Blade demo can't be too far off. Perhaps a PlayStation Blog post will be shared soon to share more about the game and confirm that the demo is available at that time.

Posted: Mar 13, 2024 9:43 pm
Related Forum: PlayStation Forum

Source: https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/stellar-blade-ps5-demo-removed/