Sony continues to clean up the PS4 in the background: As has now been officially announced, a long-standing third-party service for the console’s Internet browser will soon be discontinued – a loss that most gamers probably won’t even notice.
Die PS4 has now been around for well over a decade – and as we all know, time doesn’t stand still. So Sony is slowly but surely – now completely obvious – ushering in the end of the PS4 era and is already doing a lot of cleaning up in the background.
After the activity feeds and various social features on the console were deleted in recent years, the next function will soon be available. However, this is a loss that very few players will even notice.
A relic from another console era
Like Sony on its official support page announced that security services provided by Trend Micro for the PS4’s integrated Internet browser will be completely discontinued.
The affected services are the options “Kids Safety”, a parental protection filter that blocks inappropriate content, and “Web Security”, which offers protection against phishing and fraudulent websites.
Trend Micro introduced these services on the PS4 back in December 2014 – at a time when the console was still fresh on the market and, due to the lack of omnipresent smartphones, many gamers still used it regularly to surf the Internet from the comfort of their sofa.
There was already a similar offer on the PS3, PSP and PS Vita – here the services were discontinued on May 31, 2023 – which was even free at times. On the PS4, however, Sony charged a tidy sum in the PS Store: anyone who wanted to subscribe to the filter had to pay the equivalent of just under $20.
The schedule for the final exit
Since surfing the Internet via the PS4 now hardly plays a role, the active user base of Trend Micro protection is now likely to be negligible. Accordingly, the decision to hire will probably have been made.
However, Sony doesn’t just let the service disappear overnight, but rather chooses a phased transition that gives the remaining users enough time to adapt:
- 25. August 2026: The sale and renewal of licenses in the PS Store will be stopped completely.
- 25. August 2027: The servers will be shut down permanently. From this day onwards, the service for PS4 will cease to exist.
Important to know: This shutdown has no impact on normal everyday gaming, the online functions of your games or the PlayStation Network (PSN). And if you don’t use the PS4 browser anyway, you don’t have to do anything.
If parents have used the filter to secure the browser for their children, Sony will refer you to the system’s own, free parental control settings on the PS4. If necessary, the Internet browser can also be completely blocked for certain user profiles.
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