GoKawiilC. Scott Brown / Android Authority
TL;DR Last week, a Google Play user reported that Google had revoked access to their purchased The Lord of the Rings Extended Edition trilogy.
The problem now appears to be a technical issue, as Google says the affected user should still have access to the films.
Google eventually issued the user a refund in the form of store credit. The user says they still can’t access the films.
Recent events are reminding us that purchasing digital content doesn’t necessarily guarantee access to that content in the future. Earlier this summer, Sony revoked access to more than 500 films sold through PlayStation’s digital storefront, leaving users who’d purchased the films unable to watch them. Last week, it looked like Google was pulling something similar, with one user’s digital The Lord of the Rings collection seemingly going missing. As it turns out, though, that situation is apparently due to some combination of technical issues.
In a Reddit thread that’s since been removed, user ugoindownsaka1 said that they’d lost access to the digital copies of The Lord of the Rings extended edition trilogy they purchased through Google in 2022. After some runaround with Google Play customer service, the user was initially denied a refund for the purchase. Now, though, ugoindownsaka1 reports not only that they’ve received credit equal to what they paid for the trilogy, but also that Google insists they do still have access to their movies.
Android Authority got in touch with the affected user, who tells us that when viewing their Google TV library using the mobile app, the app crashes (“before i get out of the ‘A’s’,” as ugoindownsaka1 puts it). The situation on Chromecast with Google TV isn’t much better, as their library there only displays “maybe a fifth” of the content they’ve purchased.
As Dexerto reports, Google blames this unusual experience on a “rendering issue with larger digital libraries.” In addition to crediting the £20 the user had initially paid for the movie trilogy on Google Play back to their account, Google also provided the user links that it says should point to the films on YouTube.
Those links apparently haven’t resolved the issue for ugoindownsaka1, who says the links for The Fellowship of the Ring and The Return of the King tell them they need to purchase the films, while The Two Towers purportedly shows up as unavailable. At least they got their refund.
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