In a recent update, Sony removed a back door way for Chinese users to access international versions of the PlayStation store.

As we previously reported, Chinese gamers had worked out how to access the PlayStation Store of other nations, granting them access to games not approved for sale in China. The PlayStation Store in China was then taken down by PlayStation “saying it wanted to improve the online store’s security.”

Now, the South China Morning Post reports a recent update removed the backdoor entry to international PlayStation stores. Reportedly, a combination of buttons could be held when rebooting the console to utilize the back door. The user would instead be able to access titles that have been unapproved by Chinese censors.

While there are thousands of PlayStation 4 games that have been released, a meager amount (around 150) are available on the Chinese PlayStation store. Meaning that without the back doors, gamers in China are unable to access a vast majority of the PlayStation 4 library.

The PlayStation store had been closed last week in China before the current update hit. Although Chinese gamers won’t be able to access the international store from here on out; reportedly those who have previously used the backdoor are still able to access the international PlayStation store.

The backdoor had allegedly been reported by a citizen on the Chinese social media app Weibo. This post was reportedly  “later heavily criticised and shared by thousands of Chinese game enthusiasts.” 

In addition, Reuters stated that they found vendors offering ways to get around the Chinese PlayStation Store restrictions for less than $5 USD (est. ¥ 35.54 CNY).

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Image: Ganter Group