How to Share Digital PlayStation Games on PS5 and PS4

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To share digital games locally, enable Sony’s console-sharing setting on the PlayStation console your household members will use. On PS5, go to Settings > Users and Accounts > Other > Console Sharing and Offline Play and choose Enable. Other users on that PS5 can then play games the purchasing account owns and has downloaded. A PlayStation family group is not required to switch on this console-level access.

Share digital games on PS5

Sign in on the PS5 with the PlayStation account that purchased the games.
On that console, open Settings > Users and Accounts > Other > Console Sharing and Offline Play.
Select Enable.
Download the purchased games while signed in to the owner’s account. Other users of that PS5 can then play the owner’s purchased and downloaded games, including when the console is offline.

Sony says Console Sharing and Offline Play is automatically allowed on the first PS5 used to sign in. It can be enabled on only one PS5 at a time. If it is enabled on another PS5, disable it there before turning it on for the console your household will use. See Sony’s PS5 Console Sharing and Offline Play guide.

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Share digital games on PS4

Sign in to the PS4 with the account that purchased the games.
Open Settings > Account Management > Activate as Your Primary PlayStation 4.
Select Activate.

Each PlayStation account can have one PS4 activated as its primary console. If another PS4 is already primary for that account, deactivate it before activating the new one. Sony’s instructions are in its PS4 primary-console activation guide.

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What other users can access

Console sharing is tied to the purchasing account and the console, not to a family-group setting. On an enabled PS5, other users of that console can play the owner’s purchased and downloaded games and access purchased and downloaded media. The owner must own the content; merely joining the same family group does not make another account’s purchases available. Sony’s PS5 guide describes the access available to users of an enabled console.

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Some PlayStation Plus benefits can also be shared on a primary PS4 and on one PS5 with Console Sharing and Offline Play enabled. That does not mean every membership feature, cloud function, catalog item, or entitlement is shared. Check Sony’s current PlayStation Plus sharing guidance for the benefit you have in mind.

Console sharing and Share Play are different

Feature	How it works	PlayStation Plus and limits
Console sharing	Other users play eligible content on the same physical console where sharing is enabled. On PS5, the owner’s purchased and downloaded games can be played offline.	PS5 sharing can be enabled on one PS5 at a time. Selected Plus benefits may be shared; eligibility varies by benefit.
Share Play	The owner invites a remote visitor into a session to watch, take control, or play together, subject to the feature’s requirements. It is not a way to permanently make a purchase available on the visitor’s console.	Sony’s cited PS5 guide says the person starting Share Play needs PlayStation Plus, one visitor can join at a time, and a session ends after one hour. See Sony’s Share Play guide.

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Fix common sharing problems

The game is locked or missing: Confirm that the signed-in owner account purchased the game, and that the game is downloaded on the console being shared.
Another PS5 user cannot play it: Check that Console Sharing and Offline Play is enabled on this PS5. If it is active on a different PS5, disable it there first.
The PS4 account cannot activate this console: The account may already have a different primary PS4. Deactivate the old console before activating the current one.
A subscription game or benefit is unavailable: Confirm the subscription is active and check Sony’s current sharing guidance; subscription entitlements and benefits are not all shared in the same way.
Activation is stuck on a console you cannot access: Sony offers remote deactivation of all devices through account management. Sony limits remote all-device deactivation to once every six months; consult the relevant PS5 support guide or PS4 activation guide for the current steps.

If access still fails, check that the console software and network connection are current, then restart the console and confirm the owner account can access the game directly.