There is in fact a server check right now, dunno if it affects PS3, PSP or PSV, but it does affect PS4 and PS5.

But it's for a period of 30 days after the purchase of digital content, not every 30 days.

Buy a digital game on PS4 or PS5 today, deny access to internet for that system from and you'll not be able to play said game in the 31rd day after that purchase anymore.

You need to have internet connect, once, between day 15 and 30 after the purchase, otherwise the game becomes unplayable after that period.

You get a temporary 30 days license when you make the purchase. That license starts looking for a check from Sony servers after 14 days pass.

No matter how many times the system connect to the internet for 14 days, no checks will update the license status, but after 14 days it'll be looking for a one time only server check, if it connects to the internet once, no matter when, and it reaches the server, that license is replaced by a permanent license. (Probably wouldn't work during a PSN outage, even if the system does have internet).

At that point the system can remain offline forever and it'll always work. But it expires after the 30 days period otherwise. If you then connect to the internet once, even after it expired after the 30 days, it'll still update the license to its permanent status.

Unless things changed very recently again, that is how I understand they changed their policy to avoid chargebacks aimed at fooling their support chat, so that's why it doesn't update for the first 14 days.

Thats not how it works though:

1. When you buy a game for PSN you get 14 days to request a refund if you don't download it.

2. Purchasing a game on PSN will entitle your console to a 30 day temp license that requires check in.   After checkin (see step 3) you console will automatically convert the temp license to a forever license after 14 days (the refund peroid).  

3. BUT... Check in happens a the point of download.  So all games that you download DO NOT actually require any further checkin. Even if you are not connected your temp license becomes a permanent license after 14 days.  Period. 

4. This means that there are only two ways to get you console to request a checkin for digital games:  A) remove your console CMOS which purges licesnses stored on it or B) Find 'some way' (keep in mind this store was broke by Mod Wars) to get a digital game on your system that skips PSN.

The main point is that any game you download from PSN does not ever require checkin.  Download is checkin which is why they say you can't get a refund if you downlaod a game.  Obviously though keep in mind they have the power to refund after that period.  

This was done because modders were stealing games because it used to be that when you bought a game your system would download the permanent license. So what they would do is purchase a game, extract the permanent license from their modded console and then request a refund within 14 days without downloading the game.  This means someone could be playing your game without paying you for it which is called pirating or stealing.  So Sony tied the act of downloading a game to the action of getting a permanent license and thus using downloading to void refunds. 

@XL-klaudkil

You are right there are no check-in.  Not just becuase of my long-winded explination but also because PS3 should have the old system meaing that when you made a purchase your console automatically got the permanent license. 

Either the part aimed on me is right or the part aimed at the other part is right. It literally has checks, even if the download is a trigger for it to transtition the license status and download the permanent one, which I actually didn't know. I also commented on a following post about the refund the game and keep the license situation too.

But as you said yourself, it'll check for that license after 30 days if it was never downloaded too, so that's a check, and that we have evidence posted about. And it was not like how that worked before this year.

Thanks for clarifying the part of playing download/playing the game actually granting the permanent license before the 14 days period, I remember to have read otherwise when the internet discovered it but it could be wrong info indeed, as I never tested it myself.